Persona 3: Turn-around
by Pedrozza
Summary: Minato doesn't expect anything from his life. He's just going to have a normal, boring school life, be a boring salaryman, working a boring job in a cubicle, maybe marry someone and have kids. Life's pretty streamlined, after all. Or so he thought, until his twin sister, the only person he really cares about, enrolls into a secret organization designed to hunt Shadows.
1. Chapter 1

**6th of April, 2009**

Two young teens sit at the train, late at night.

One, with blue hair and silver eyes, looks around the empty train anxiously. The other, with auburn hair, seems to be sleeping on the bluenette's shoulder whilst hugging his arm.

Minato just sighed at his sister's clinginess. She was always too close for comfort. It didn't bother him that much, and he wouldn't wake her up just because of that. They were siblings, it was only natural that she would act close to him, and he would just have to suck it up. He was out of the norm, not the other way around.

"Now approaching, Iwatodai..." The sudden announcer interrupted his train of thought.

Looking at Hamuko, she still seems to be sleeping. Unfortunate, he was hoping the announcer would hake her up so he wouldn't have to.

"Hamuko? It's time to go." Minato nudged his sister gently until she opened her eyes. She just nuzzled on his shoulder and yawned.

"Can't you just carry me to the dorm while I'm sleeping?" she said, as she rested on his shoulder again.

"Not a chance. I don't even know how you can sleep on a train like this, doing that is basically asking to get mugged." He pushed her head from his shoulder as he began to get up. "If anything, you should be the one carrying me to the dorm. I'm way more tired than you, seeing how you slept through our entire trip while I was looking after our things." The bluenette said, taking his luggage and making his way to the door.

"Jeez, can't you be nice to your sister for once?" Hamuko yawned, slowly getting up to reach for her suitcase as the door opens.

"Hurry it up, or I'm leaving you here." Hamuko just sighs as she gets up and they both walk through the door.

"Maybe you should've gotten some sleep, you get all grumpy when you're tired" He just dismisses that thought. If no one looked after their stuff, who knows what would happen? As Hamuko rubs her eyes, her eyes dart to the station clock. It's a few seconds to midnight. "Oh, It's almost that time, isn't it?". He shrugs again, the creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time was getting old after years of experiencing it, surprisingly. Minato just keeps reading the dorm flyer, not really caring about the world around him changing.

"There are a lot of rooms in this dorm, this place seems to be a lair for social beasts." Minato smirks at Hamuko, who smirks right back.

After a few more quips and witty responses, they arrive at the dorm.

The bluenette goes to open the door, just to see Hamuko standing back.

"I thought you were tired. Let's get some sleep already."

Hamuko eyes the coffins around them, then looks back at her brother.

"Nuh-uh. Remember the last time the creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time ended and we were close to one of those coffins, and the guy who came out of that claimed that we were teleported just in front of him? I want our dormmates first impression of me to be flawless."

Minato groaned at his sister's bullshitting.

"Well, I didn't have the luxury to sleep through the entire trip, so I'm tired. Wait outside if you want to, I couldn't care less." The bluenette went through the door, closing it behind him.

...

"You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you." His eyes darted to his left side, only to find a young pale boy with blue eyes, with some strange prision-like attire.

Seeing him, Minato freezes up. He had never seen anyone but himself and Hamuko move within that time. No one seemed to even know about its existence. And yet, here this boy was, talking like they were long-time friends and he was 10 minutes late for a study session.

"No need to be afraid. I just need you to sign this contract right here. Don't worry, all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff."

Still in shock, there is no way the teenager could answer. How could this even be possible? How could this hidden time that no one knows about even be possible? Sure, he has gotten used to it, but he could not fathom why it happens and why he and his sister would be the only ones that's able to act within it.

Well, apparently not the only ones anymore. A snap of fingers from the mysterious boy wakes him up. "Look, I know a lot is going on in your head, but stick with me for now, alright? Everything will be explained eventually. Just sign this and I'll go." He seems to be frowning.

The bluenette decided to go with the flow and just sign the contract. It will make him go away, and it's not like this little kid can actually force him to do anything. He wants to ask him about it, but it doesn't look like he'll get any answers if he does, if the overly cryptic way this child talks is anything to consider.

Grabbing a pen, he wrote his name: Minato Arisato. Say what you will, his handwriting was excellent.

"So... it begins." He was wearing an creepy smile that stretched ear to ear. As soon as he said that, both the boy and the contract vanished into thin air.

And all of the questions, doubts and worries he had came rushing back to poor Minato's head. As he was now all alone with his thoughts.

"Who's there?!"

Well, not alone anymore.

His eyes rushed to the stairs, as he saw a brunette with neck-length hair talking to him. Great, another person that both knows about this time and can operate within it. Maybe this chick will know at least something more than he knows about this supernatural event. She begins reaching downwards for her... gun?

Well, there Minato goes, completely freezing up again. This is how he dies. This girl is wearing a uniform, she is probably a student who lives in this dorm. Maybe she is just as afraid as he is, seeing that another person can move within the hidden hour. But he can't scream out, ask for her to calm down. He is terrified, both after seeing that other people can move during this time and a kid completely disappear before his own eyes. He can't bring himself to talk her down, scream for Hamuko, or even just run. His head is a mess, and these situations happening one after another don't help it one bit.

"Takeba, wait!" Another voice came and crashed Minato's train of thought. Looking at the girl again, she was trembling and sweating, her gun still on her holster. The brunette was clearly hesitating, and he could've easily just talked to her. It would be kind of funny that he was that scared at someone who probably wasn't even going to shoot in the first place. Looking at where the voice came from, Minato saw a stunning long-haired readhead who looked to be about a year older than him. Another one who can do anything within this timeframe. Alright, this is already getting old. They both seemed to have a red and black armband that read "S.E.E.S". The brown-haired girl calmed down as the world seemed to shift back into non-creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time. He heard someone opening the door behind him. Even though he knew it probably was Hamuko, he decided to look back anyway. There she was, and she was looking at him puzzled.

"Minato? I thought you were going to bed immediately."

"I was planning to, but then I had a little run-in with these two ladies." The bluenette decided to play it cool. He couldn't tell his sister about the incident, as she would probably press the two poor girls for answers. Hamuko just grinned smugly, knowing that if he had waited outside with her, this wouldn't have happened.

"I'm sorry, my brother is just sneaky, he didn't mean to startle you." It's better, for now, if she thinks that what happened was 'the hour ended just now and these people saw this guy teleport in front of them'

Both the redhead and the brunette look at each other, puzzled on what the auburnette meant, but the older one decides to let it go, as she looks at the twins and speaks up.

"I didn't think you'd both arrive so late." Hamuko just mouths 'Sorry'. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo and this is Yukari Takeba. We're students who live in this dorm".

"Is it really okay for them to be here? Who are they, anyway?" Yukari looks at Mitsuru, anxiously.

"They're transfer students. Last minute decision to assign them here. If it is okay, only time will tell." Mitsuru looks back at Minato and Hamuko. "Takeba here will be a junior this spring, just like you two." She said, gesturing to the girl beside her to give an introduction.

"...Hey." Of course she had to make it awkward.

"Nice to meet you!" Hamuko answered joyfully. She has met shy people before, and she knows exactly how to make them more talkative. It seems to have worked, because Yukari smiled after that.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too." The brunette then looked at Minato, who was looking straight at her holster, as she tried to turn around to hide it.

"Why do you have a gun?" Yukari froze up at that question which made him smile. Serves her right, it's payback for scaring him half to death with that gun.

"Huh? Um, well, It's sorta like a hobby... No, not a hobby, but..."

"Wait, she has a gun?!" Hamuko interrupted her, clearly and understandably surprised. Yukari tried to interject, but Minato stopped her in her tracks.

"Yeah. I thought she was gonna shoot me when she saw me."

"No, wait, I wasn't-"

"It's for self-defense. Not a real gun, of course, but it scares the robbers away. I apologize for her behavior, she just mistook you for a thief." Her attempt to speak was interrupted by Mitsuru, who decides to put an end to all the questioning. Yukari sighed in relief. She obviously can't keep herself together when put on the spot. "It is getting late, so you all should get some rest. The second and third floor are where the male and female rooms are, respectively. Takeba will show you to your rooms." Minato thinks he has had enough. He doesn't want to annoy Mitsuru, and if he wanted answers, it could wait until tomorrow. Hell, right now, he just wants to catch some Zs and, looking at his sister, it seems that she agrees, if all the yawning and eye-rubbing are any indications. No need to press this any further, he doubts these two will be disappearing like that kid.

The walk to his room is mostly quiet and uneventful, at least from Minato's point of view. He didn't have the luxury of sleeping in the train, so he's not awake enough to participate in their girl talk.

"This is it. Pretty easy to remember, huh? Right at the end of the hall." Yukari says, as soon as she reaches the last door on the second floor. "Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it. So, any questions?" A ton. But he can't ask her about the creepy boy or the contract, he doubts she'd know. And he can't ask about she moving within the creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time. At least, not in front of Hamuko. She'd just freak out.

"Nah, not really." Yukari seems relieved that she doesn't have to explain anything any further.

"Um... Can I ask you something?" Minato retreats a little bit. A thought resurfaced in his mind. She might be just as surprised as him that a person other than her and Mitsuru can move within that hidden timeframe. However, if she asks about this, it could be dangerous. If Hamuko learns about this, she could freak out and get anxious, maybe pressing for answers that might not even be there. And based on what he saw of Yukari, she does not work well under pressure.

"Go for it." He tenses up, half hoping that she would at least use ambiguous language and half expecting a direct questioning.

"On your way here from the station, was everything okay?" Thank god. Minato is unsure if the ambiguity is actually intentional or not, but he takes it.

"Well, not really. I had to deal with this little devil that I call a sister bugging me for the entire duration of the trip." Of course, trying to be humorous to ease the tension is a good way to start laying the groundwork for information. If she somehow has answers, he wants them. And it's better that he uses proximity to get those answers than to pressure the poor girl. "Other than that, no problems." He looks to Hamuko and sees that she is pouting at him, and he just gives her a little smile.

"What do you mean? You were the one bugging me about sleeping on the train!" He looks at Yukari. She doesn't seem satisfied with the answer, but he's not letting her ask anything else.

"Well, you were bugging me by sleeping on the train on the first place. What if you were alone? You'd probably have all your stuff stolen by that one creepy bald dude that I bet you didn't even see." Hamuko looks displeased, but she is way too tired to continue arguing, and she sees her brother is even more tired.

"Whatever. You were there to look after my stuff, weren't you? And by staying awake all this time, I bet you're tired. So like the nice sister that I am, I'll let you sleep, before you try to stay up until 3 A.M. arguing. Let's go, Yukari!" She began huffing off. Minato could tell that it was only half-serious, and looked back at Yukari.

"Well, I better get going..." She starts to walk and he begins to open his door, until the footsteps stop. "I'm sure you still have other questions, but let's save them for later, alright? Good night." He actually smiles at that. Maybe he was overthinking. Maybe getting some answers won't be as hard as he thought.

"Good night." He says, as Yukari smiles. She begins to walk off, as he enters his room. Finally, some sweet relief from all that time he spent awake. Sure, he was going to get less than 5 hours, but it was still something. As he puts on his pajamas and lays into his bed, he closes his eyes. Finally satisfied that he can, possibly, be able to uncover this mistery of the creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time. Maybe, finally, have someone around him, who isn't his sister, that doesn't think he is crazy when he talks about something supernatural happening at midnight.

.

.

.  
He can't sleep.  
Fuck.


	2. Chapter 2

**7th of April, 2009**

"It's Yukari, are you awake?" Hamuko heard, together with knocks on the door. She had gotten up a few minutes ago, but hasn't gotten around to tying her hair up.

"Yeah, come in!" Hamuko said, as Yukari entered. She was just finishing up her ponytail.

"Good morning, did you sleep okay?" The transfer student just thumbs up, earning a giggle from Yukari. "Mitsuru asked me to take you and your brother to school. Are you ready to go?"

"Totally!" She answered, clearly excited for her first day. "Let's get Minato, before he wanders off and tries to get to school on his own."

The two of them left the room, and began walking for the stairs.

"So... how's the school?" Hamuko realized that the trip to her brother's room would be awkward without a little bit of dialogue. It would also be a good opportunity to make Yukari open up.

"It's great!" She responded with a smile. "The teachers are amazing, the education is very methodic, the tests are hard but fair. It's one hell of a school." Yukari said. Well, it's nice that she's proud of her own school.

"That sounds good. But... what about the students? Are they, you know... nice?" Hamuko asked, cleary worried.

"They're nice. We don't have much in the way of typical highschool jerks and bullies. The school has a very strict about that. Of course, we still have some, but most students are cool" Hamuko cartoonishly sighed in relief. "But you really doesn't seem the type of girl who'd get bullied, though. What's with all this worrying?"

"I don't really get bullied. I'm worried for Minato. He sometimes get made fun of because of how he acts or even his hairstyle." Hamuko says, and Yukari just gives a muffled 'Oh.' in response. "He says he doesn't mind, but I don't feel comfortable just 'letting it slide', like he says I should do. I just feel like... I should be, you know, standing up for him? Am I weird for thinking like that?"

"Well, I don't think it really counts as bullying if the victim doesn't care at all, but... You're not weird at all!" Yukari answers with a warm smile, as they arrive in front of Minato's room. "You're siblings, after all. It's only natural that you'd want to look out for each other."

"Thanks, Yukari. It really helps knowing you don't find me strange." Hamuko says, going for her brother's door. "It's time to get him." Instead of knocking, she just opens the door without hesitation. "Bro, it's time to g-"

But she was not greeted by her brother.

Not scolded or screamed at by barging in at a unfortunate time.

She was met with a empty room. Well, not brand-new empty. It seems that Minato did some tidying up.

A lot of tidying up.

His action figures and his laptop were already on the table, he hung a few posters up, it seems like he spent a lot of time making sure this felt like home.

"Oh, really?!" Hamuko let out a frustrated sigh. "God damn it." She turned back to Yukari. "I can't believe he did this on the first day of school!" The disgruntled twin turned to the stairs, groaning. "Let's go alr-"

But she went quiet after she saw a familiar figure going up the stairs.

On one hand, it had a bitten calzone wrapped up in a piece of paper. On the other, it had a can of energy drink. A bag full of cans was hung from his forearm. He was wearing his school uniform, and seemed pretty alright, except for some bags under his eyes.

"Looking for me?" Minato said, with a mouthful of food. A cocky bastard even while he's eating. A awkward silence filled the room a few moments while he just stared at his sister's discontented face. "What are you standing there for?" He paused, taking a sip from his energy drink. "We're going to be late for school.

"We thought you left by yourself." Yukari seemed actually relieved. "Where were you, anyway?" Yukari caught herself staring at the bags under his eyes, but figured it would be too rude to ask.

"You look terrible. Did you even sleep?" Not that his sister cared if it was rude or not. "You should spend less time setting up your room. Do you realize you could've done that today, after school?"

"I was going to do that, but unfortunately my psyche played a little prank on me. After a-" He stops and looks at Yukari for a bit, then at Hamuko. He couldn't say what really made him stay awake all night. "After a bad nightmare, I was unable to sleep. So I used that time to tidy up my room. As to where I was..." He dangles the arm with the bag. "I think I'll collapse at the school without at least 3 cans of Monster."

"Give me one of those." His sister said, walking to him and grabbing a can off the bag and opening it. "Let's go to school already." Hamuko was still grumpy. Completely unjustly, of course, because he didn't even leave without her this time.

"If we don't hurry up, she's the one who's gonna leave by herself." Minato said, looking to Yukari. "After you." As much as he wanted to talk to Yukari about the 'moving-inside-the-creepy-bloody-something-something-time' thing, he was way too tired to deal with the whole 'convincing-the-girl-that-stumbles-under-pressure' thing. Maybe he could try it out tomorrow.

After a few minutes of Hamuko huffing off ahead, mostly devolving from a real mild annoyance to jokingly and exaggerated 'anger', and Yukari and Minato talking about the school, the trio arrives at the monorail. As soon as they enter, they notice there is only two seats available in the vast sea of salaryman and students.

"Hey, sit there for a bit." Yukari said to Minato as soon as she saw the empty seats. "You seem too tired to even stand. It's best for you if you don't collapse in the middle of class." She said, leading him towards the seats.

"Don't worry about it." The tired twin said as he released himself from the pull. "You two can sit down. I'd rather stand up." Minato just moved himself to a empty spot close to the seats, a nice window gave him a view of the city.

"Wow, what a gentleman." Hamuko said, as she sat down on the seat closest to her brother. "Are you sure you don't want to sit? You do look like someone who is about to fall down face-first on the ground."

"Well, of course I want to sit down. But I feel like if I relax one muscle just for a little bit I'll just instantly sleep and won't be able to wake up for a long time." He eyed Yukari, gesturing towards the empty seat, convincing her to sit down on the empty spot. Minato turned to the window as the two girls began talking. What they were talking about must've been interesting, he's sure, but he can't pay enough attention to maybe chime in with a witty comment or even actually partake in the conversation.

His eyes are feeling heavy. Whenever he blinks, he feels like his eyes are about to glue themselves down. He tries to rest his eyes for just a little bit, and the scenery watched through the window completely changes from some comercial buildings to deep blue water.  
"This is my favourite part... when it feels like you're gliding over the sea!" He heard a female voice say. He couldn't keep 'resting his eyes', what if someone took his wallet when he was dozing off? He doubts Hamuko will bother to look after it, and he can't fully trust Yukari with such a task yet. But he simply can't stop just feeling overwhelming tiredness whenever he just blinks. He feels like his blinks are getting longer and longer. The train isn't that crowded, not many shady looking individuals, maybe he could actually just get a little bit of res-

"Didn't you hear?" He looked back to see his sister looking at him, smirking mockingly. "I thought that you weren't a fan of dozing off in public places. We're already here."

"I wasn't dozing off-" He was interrupted by a non-intentional yawn. "I had my hand over the pocket that contains all my things, ready to attack if some punk tried to sneak his dirty hands on my wallet. I was just... appreciating the scenery?" He didn't have much conviction in that saying, but he's not going to concede to his sister. Not when he was scolding her by doing pretty much the same thing just about 7 hours ago.

"'Appreciating the scenery'?" Hamuko found herself giggling. "That's the best you can come up with?" Now she was full-on laughing. "Come on, bro, you can do better than this-"

"Hey! The doors are gonna close. Can't you two do that on the way to the school?" Yukari interrupted the back and forth with a scream. The twins made a run for the door.

"It seems your attention span remains as always." He paused to down the entire can of Monster on one go. "Regardless if you're feeling sleepy or fully awake" He had a wide smirk on his face. Maybe if he made fun of it enough, her oopsie could overshadow his oopsie.

"Are you sure it's healthy to drink all these energy drinks?" Or Yukari could change the subject. It works, too. "Can't you like, die from caffeine overdose?"

"I mean, I was about to crack open another one, but if you're that worried..." He takes his MP3 together with his silver headphones from his pocket. "I do have something else to keep me going."

"You're sure about that?" Hamuko protested. "I know about your taste in music pretty well. It's not really the 'keeping you awake' kind."

"Oh please, I'm three steps ahead of you." His attitude was back in full swing after all that caffeine. "I've had for quite some time a few emergency tracks. Very loud and very unpleasant music. But hey, it keeps me awake." He puts on the headphones. "Only thing is- I can't talk to the both of you while I'm at it. Keep going, I'll stay behind."  
He fakes putting the volume up, just to see what they would be talking about in his technical absence.

"Do you think I was too sarcastic and cocky-" Alright, he doesn't really want to hear that. He puts the volume up for real this time. As much as he likes to tease her from time to time, his sister talking honestly about bothering him is not really something he wants to or even should hear. It just... feels weird.

His previous peaceful sleepiness was replaced by a pounding headache. The energy drinks and the music really started to do some work.

God, it hurts so much.

At least it's not the annoying uncontrollable sleepiness. However, his face must've been doing a bad job of hiding his discomfort, because his sister seemed to say 'Are you okay?'. He can't hear it anyways, so he just assumes that's what she said. He just thumbs up as an answer.

After some minutes of pure pain, he finally saw the school in front of him. Pretty big. Clearly whoever owns it has a thing for boasting about how much money they have. Minato muted his MP3, not really removing the headphones yet, just in time to hear Yukari say her introductions.

"Well, this is it. Welcome to Gekkoukan High School. Hope you like it." It does look nice, but that's only a fraction of what's important. Seemingly, their little talk was over because the walk from the gate to inside the school building was quiet. Probably because they tought he still was with his ear-deafening music, but he wouldn't mind some quieter moments. In-between all those 'trying to outsmart my sister for shits and giggles' moments.

The quietness was, however, short-lived. Because, as soon as they arrived in the shoe lockers...

"You're both o-" Yukari paused and looked to Minato, gesturing for him to take his headphones off, and he did as he was told. "Sorry, forgot you were still with that. Well, you're both okay from here, right? You should probably look for your homeroom teacher in the faculty office, that's in the hallway to your left. The bulletin boards are right here if you both want to see what class you're in, but your teacher will probably know that. Well, I probably have to get going now, but do you have any questions?"

"You look like a little tour guide." Hamuko commented. "But I don't really have any questions. You explained it really well." Yukari looked to Minato, and he just shook his head. She would really make a great tour guide.

"Well then, see you guys later." She was about to go away, but stopped and turned around. "Hey, Minato! Come here for a sec." And he did as she said. Not really feeling that talkative with his head still hurting, but he'll hear what she has to say. "Hey... about last night, don't tell anybody about what you saw, alright?"

"Alright, but try not to mention it too much. If you wanna talk about it, try doing it when it's only the two of us, alright? Other people hear we talking cryptically, it's going to raise some red flags." He says and she nods, as they depart. she going up the stairs and he going back to his sister, a dreaded smirk back on her face.

"You've met her for a few hours and you're already whispering sweet nothings onto her ear?" She found herself snickering. "Maybe you'll finally have a girlfriend, bro!"

"Yeah, yeah, shut up." He groaned. "What are you, five?" He put his headphones back and faked putting the volume up. No way he's going to listen to that horrible music again, but those quiet moments really are great for his head.

Well, he thinks that until his sleepiness came back in their way to the faculty office. Not really wanting to go back to the loud music, he removed his MP3 and headphones and went for his trusty bag. His sister gave a disapproving look, but it wasn't his fault that he couldn't sleep

As they arrive in the faculty office, he realizes having a energy drink can on his hand wouldn't be the best first impression, so he downed it in one go and threw it in a trash can nearby. He could feel the caffeine running to his brain.

They open the door, just to find an lady with short light brown hair and brown jacket. She kinda looks like an older Yukari. As soon as she sees them, she began approaching, looking at and flipping some papers.

"Oh, I take it you're the new transfer students?" Minato nodded while his sister gave a thumbs up. "Minato and Hamuko Arisato, 11th grade, correct?" She began flipping through the files and reading them. "Wow, you two have lived in a lot of different places. Let's see... in 1999, that was what, ten years ago? Your parents-"

Oh man, he's gonna back off a little bit on that one.

He knew exactly what was written there, and while he has gotten mostly over it, it's still something unpleasant to be remembered about.

He sees Hamuko give a less noticiable reaction, but hopefully the teacher didn't see his.

"I'm sorry, I didn't have time to read this beforehand. I'm Isako Toriumi, your composition teacher. Welcome to our school."

"Nice to meet you!" Hamuko said with her usual cheery self. Correction, usual 'when she's not talking to him' self. He means, he gets the act, she really needs to get her image as the 'carefree airhead girl that just wants to make some friends!' or something, but she should settle on a personality.

"Wow, such enthusiasm! We could use more go-getters like you." Isako looks at Minato, expectantly. Well, this puts him in a bad spot. If he also acts excited, she will just see him as an extention of his sister, and if he acts indifferent, she'll just be disappointed.

"It's nice to meet you." He'll go with the polite but not overly excited route. That seemed to work, given that her smile didn't go away. He at least gave and okay-ish first impression and that was enough for him.

"Have you two seen the classroom assingments? You're in 2-F, that's my homeroom." She puts the files on the desk as she continues. "I've made a special effort to make sure you two would be in the same class, otherwise I believe it would be weird for you." She gives a cheeky smile that pretty much said 'You're welcome' to them both. "However, we first need to go to the welcoming ceremony. Follow me to the auditorium."

The trip to the auditorium is mostly uneventful. At least, that's what Minato thinks. Since his 'ailment' of sleepiness and headache were both mostly gone, he got time to spend on his own head.

He still can't get over the fact that there is more people that know about that time. Every time the twins told someone about that, they were labeled off as crazy.

Why were he, his sister and these people the only ones who knew about that?

Why them?

Why him?

He sits on his chair and broods. Both Yukari and Hamuko are seated far away, so he can have a time to think by himself. The principal starts talking, but whatever. This is probably some boring speech about student life and responsibility that he heard about twenty times since late middle school. He's just going to ignore this. He wants some time to not talk to anyone or pay attention to anything.

"Psst. Hey!" Of course. Some unknown classmate of his right behind him is trying to get his attention. Well, this sucks. But he's going to look behind either way, seeking to end this as soon as possible. "You came to school with Yukari this morning, right? I saw you two walking together." He looked overly excited about this, for some reason. Minato just answered with a nod.

"Hey, do you know if she has a boyfriend?" Oh, that's the reason for all the excitement. Does she? She's alright looking and has a okay personality, but he doesn't know her well enough to tell. He should probably tell the truth - no, he doesn't know.

"She does." Or he could have a little bit of fun. It's not like this is going to directly hurt Yukari, if anything it's going to make these rumor-loving freaks less interested in her. Such a nice, considerate guy that Minato is. Looking after his friend even though he just met her yesterday. Truly, a hero.

"See, I told you. Why wouldn't she?" She seems to say this looking to the guy at his side, and then back to Minato. "Wait, how well do you know her?"

"I hear talking. I believe is someone in Ms. Toriumi's class..." God, did this guy just really stop monologuing just because some teens were chatting?

"Shhh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble!" Well, at least she's honest that she doesn't care about the speech at all.

After the two students behind him calmed themselves down, he put on his headphones again. Not pressing play, though. If he heard some of the music he actually liked, he'd sleep here right then and now.

He just hears the principal's speech and it is as repetitive as the other ones he already listened to.

Well, unfortunately, he can't do much except just wait it out.

This sucks.

* * *

"Man, that speech took almost all of our time here!" Hamuko said, sighing and stretching. "We almost didn't have any proper classes!"

"Well, we didn't have any proper classes. Just some teachers introducing themselves." Minato said, drinking the last can of energy drink that he had. "How can you drag on a speech for hours, change the subject every fifty words and still make it be mandatory?"

"You shouldn't really be drinking that." Hamuko said, a disapproving look on her face. "How many have you drank, anyway? I've never seen you without a can in your hand today."

"Actually, you did saw me without a can in hand." He pauses for a sip. "'Member when you basically forced me to listen to bad music so loud it blew my eardrums because you were worried I was going to die by caffeine something?"

"That wasn't even me! That was Yukari!" Hamuko protested.

"Oh please, I could see that you were worried enough." He downed the remainder of the drink, tossing the can into the bin. That would earn him a three pointer. "And I, of course, wouldn't want my beloved sister to worry about me, so I did what would calm you.

Hamuko was probably going to say something to counter her brother, but she was interrupted by a male with a goatee, a buzzcut and a baseball cap, which approached Minato.

"Sup, dude?" Minato flinched a little bit in surprise, since he was turned to his sister, he couldn't see the guy approaching. Turning around, he sees the classsmate was actually giggling because he scared him. What an asshole.

"What do you want?" That came off as harsh, but he kind of deserves it. God, there's nothing that he hates more than people that just talk to you without even knowing you.

"Ouch. Come on, let me indroduce myself at least." There it is. Bad first impression, bad for his social life. Hamuko says this all the time. "Name's Junpei Iori. I transferred here when I was in eight grade. I wanted to say 'Hey' because I know how tough it is being the new kid. See how nice I am?" Well, not that his rude first impression matters. This is going to be just some easily-forgiving bozo he'll have to deal with during school. No biggie. He was going to just turn back to his sister and say he's going home, but Yukari just entered the room and approached the trio. Bad timing, but now he'll have to go on with this fruitless conversation. "Hey, It's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again."

"At it again, huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?" Apparently, no. But finally we've got a voice of reason in the middle of this conversation. Maybe she'll scare this guy away if we look disturbed enough. Turning to the twins, she speaks up again. "Anyway, looks like we're in the same homeroom."

"It must be fate!" Hamuko said, in a clearly ironic childlike tone. She is in a much better mood than earlier today. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Minato, whose sleepiness and desire to go home increased tenfold throughout the day.

"Fate? Yeah, right." She sneers at the childish comment, even though it was ironic. "Still, I can't say I'm not surprised." Oh boy, such a conventional coincidence that they live in the same dorm and are in the same homeroom. Yeah, someone is probably behind this.

"Um, hello? Are you forgetting that I'm in this class too?" Junpei seemed offended that Yukari didn't say the same thing to him. Which is odd, because they seem to know each other very well, so one would assume they've been in the same class since eight grade, which would cause them to eventually stop commenting on it. "By the way, I heard you two came together to school the morning. What is up with that? Come on, gimme the dirt!"

"What are you talking about?!" Yukari answered a little more flushed than she needed to be. "We live in the same dorm. There is nothing going on, okay? Why are people even talking about it? Now you have me worried." Junpei lowered his head in mock-sorry for having invoked Yukari's wrath. Minato didn't get why she was blushing so hard by that question, but he realized that not everyone grew up with Hamuko's consistent teasing, that consisted of its fair share of love and relationships. Questions like that don't really flush him anymore like they used to, but Yukari didn't have to endure that, so he can forgive her. What Minato couldn't forgive Yukari for, however, is what she asked next. "Hey, you didn't tell anyone about last night, right?"

"L-last night?" Junpei said, bewildered. It seems his regrets for implying something happened between Minato and Yukari were completely gone, with Yukari's last line pretty much confirming it for this stupid head of his.

"Ooh, that's why Minato said he couldn't sleep all night." And of course she has to say something like this. God, his sister is such a handful sometimes. Junpei seems to actually think it's real, which is obviously going to be a pain to deal with.

"N-no, we didn't do anything!" She looked around, resting her eyes on Minato, pratically begging for his support. "Tell them, Minato!"

But Minato didn't answer. Not right away.

He had his mouth agape from how fucking stupid Yukari was. He regrets ever calling her the 'voice of reason'. Hamuko was giggling, Junpei seemed shocked and Yukari seemed desperate for help.

"Are you..." Minato stumbled with his words, narrowing his eyes. He cannot fathom how that was an accidental remark.

"Are you doing this on purpose?" He finally said, still in absolute shock from how dumb she is. "Like, do you want people to think we have something?"

His voice was sour and disappointed, like he was scolding a child and had to make sure she got the memo.

"And if you really want people to not know what actually happened last night, isn't it easier to say it was really sex? I mean, I bet all these teens are as dumb as Junpei right here and have their brains rotten with hormones, so they'll take the bait, no questions asked."

He paused for a moment, still dumbfounded.

"Or even better, don't say shit like that when people outside what happened are present. I already told you I wouldn't talk about it earlier today, you think I'd just forget about that?" Minato looked around and saw he kind of killed the mood, with people just uncomfortable on how he was talking and with how aggressive he was. He just groaned and got up to pick up his things. "Look, before I go: No, we didn't have sex, Junpei. And don't ask 'So what did you do, then?', because we don't want to talk about it for a reason." He got his student stuff, threw the empty bag that was full of energy drinks before in the thrash, and began heading out. Putting his headphones with terrible loud music on, he began walking back to the stairs, since without any other stimulation, he's probably going to need it.

"What a jerk." Junpei commented, shrugging the mean comments off. "Well, I'm used to it, talking to people is not going to be always sunshine and rainbows." He then looked at Yukari, who was looking downcast, completely out of it. "Look at the state he left Yuka-tan."

"I swear he isn't... always like this." Hamuko, the one who was teasing him just a few moments before, was fidgeting around trying to find any sort of excuse for her brother's outburst. That's when it hit her: her previous chat with Yukari about him getting bullied. "That's kinda his... defense mechanism. Yeah. That's it." Of course, she knew it probably wasn't the case. He probably just said that to flee the conversation and go to sleep. Or maybe he just wanted to be an asshole, she never knows with him. But maybe she could try to make this a little less akward. "Bro's a real meaniehead when he's sleepy, and I think the circumstances were in favor of this outburst. I deeply apologize for him." She bows, but peeks at Yukari to see if her smooth talk is enough to sway them alway from all the mean things her brother said.

"Well..." It seemed to have worked slightly, since Yukari wasn't all that down anymore. "I suppose if what you said is true, and he was bullied in your previous schools, it's understandable that he reacts in this way as a way of getting out a unpleasant conversation." Well, Hamuko's relieved that they're able to look the other way for her brother. "However, I'm not going to just overlook this. For someone to act like this..." Yeah, that's reasonable.

Yukari then excuses herself, claiming that she has archery club business to attend to. Chatting up a bit with Junpei, Hamuko decides that it would be for the best if the both of them went home together. She would have to work twice as hard to be friends with these two because her brother was rude, and there's no way Hamuko would pass on that kind of challenge.

* * *

Mitsuru was sitting down on the lounge's sofa, reading. It was long past the return of everyone that lived there, but she couldn't afford to risk any of the new residents going out during that time, especially when she confirmed that they, indeed, have the potential.

Focused on her book, she barely noticed her white-haired friend until he was close.

"I'm going out for a bit." He said while going past her.

"Hm?"

"Didn't you see the newspaper? There is a lot going on." She could definitely see that he was with a special mix of anger and excitement, never a good combination when it's about him.

"The news about the apathy syndrome?" He nodded, confirming what she expected. "The news said it's due to stress, but you and I both know better. You're not planning to..."

"Of course I am. I can't sit idly while this happens. And if the chairman can't do anything to stop them, I'll have to." He was serious about this. Oh, no. He then smirked to her. "Call this practice for protecting the fresh meat when they're ready." As soon as he said that, he got off and opening the door, exchanging one last look at Mitsuru before heading out.

"This isn't a game, Akihiko..." She could just blurt out and sigh. It's unbelievable how stubborn he could be at times. She can just hope that he will stay okay on his own.

**8th of April, 2009**

Well, this dormmate relationship is going to be awkward.

Looking at it now, he could've said the same thing in a less rude manner so it wouldn't hurt them that much.

Or maybe it was for the best, since they were being very dumb and annoying.

He was fed up and actually in shock at the sheer stupidity on what Yukari had done.

But that's just him trying to rationalize it, he shouldn't have lost his cool there. And, throughout the entire school day, he couldn't help but think that he could've handled that differently. He wasn't really wrong, but the way he did it was... suboptimal. And now what, they expect him to apologize for being mean even if he was right? Gosh, people are so sensitive nowadays-

"Minato!" A voice to his side startled him and gained his attention. Hamuko had a pouting face, but she seemed relieved to finally have gathered his attention. "Until when exactly do you plan to stare at that chalkboard? We still have to go to the dorm, you know." She sighed, and Minato ended up noticing that they were the only ones in the room. Man, he surely took his time thinking. "I thought you dozing off all the time like yesterday was justified by you being tired. What's your excuse for today?"

"I'm not 'dozing off'. I'm thinking. Intensively. You should really try it sometime." He was not really lying. He was even kind of taken aback by how much time has passed with him just thinking alternate scenarios of the same thing over and over again. "Besides, it's not like you have to wait for me if you wanna go back. Why, are you scared to go alone?" He's not really feeling it today, but he has to try to tease to save face.

"Scared? Not really. I know you won't be making friends anytime soon so on the days I'm free I am willing to walk home with you." Perfect. That question will probably keep her going for a little bit and she won't notice his regret. "I'm such a nice sister, keeping company to my antisocial jerk of a brother."

"'Antisocial jerk'? You give me way too much credit." He began packing up at getting up, no reason to keep this conversation in the classroom. "At this point, I'd think I already downgraded to 'antisocial asshole'." He smirked at her, glad he could take off his mind of the issue, even if just for a little bit. "Well, since you want to 'keep me company', do you want to hang around the mall for a bit? I think the arcade got bigger since the last time."

"Oh, hell effin' yes!" She jumped out of her seat. At least they had one thing in common. "Do you think they still have that old Street Fighter machine? I'll kick your butt!"

* * *

"You know that game was fucking broken." Minato protested as they approached the dorm room. "You just pressed the same button over and over again half of the time." He was very gloomy, while his sister was as cheerful as she could be. "And the other half, you were pressing buttons randomly. I cannot fathom how this was fair."

"Wow, sore loser much?" She began laughing while opening the door. "What were you doing, anyway? If we're talking about halves, half of the time you couldn't even touch me, the other half you were the one untouchable."

"I was trying to do the combos, obviously." He spat. "You know, playing the game the way it's supposed to be played-" Minato stopped for a second and looked at the sofa.

Yukari and a middle-aged male seemed to be talking before they showed up, but went quiet after the teens opened the door. They were being very loud, but they weren't expecting anyone to be there. The man had long, wavy brown hair, dark brown eyes, and was sporting a goatee. He was wearing round glasses and a tan jacket. A very weird attire. As soon as the twins notice the both of them, Yukari stands up.

"They're back." Yukari didn't seem fazed by how noisy they were. She seemed tired, actually. Not a clue on what they were talking about, either, since he and Hamuko were a tad too loud with their fighting game discussion.

"So, these are our new guests." The man pauses to get up. "Good evening. My name is Shuji Ikutsuki. I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school."

Alright, hold up.

What is the actual chairman doing here? He's not going to ask that to him, of course, that's kind of rude, but he can't help but wonder why.

"'Ikutsuki'... Hard to say, isn't it? That's why I don't like introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes." He flashes a smile. Alright, now it's a bit believable that he came here. He seems like a harmless happy-go-lucky guy. He gestures towards the seats, signaling that he wants the both of them to sit, and they do so. Not really a reason _not_ to talk with this guy. "I apologize deeply for the confusion regarding your room assignments. It may take a little longer for you two to recieve proper accomodation. But, I'm here to answer all your questions. Is there anything you two would like to ask?"

"Is there anyone else who lives here? Besides us three and Mitsuru, of course." Hamuko was the first one to ask. She seemed rather pumped about knowing everyone

"The only one besides the four you've mentioned is a senior called Akihiko Sanada. He is the captain of the boxing team." After responding, the chairman looks at Minato, expectingly. Minato just shakes his head, not really having a question in mind.

"Well then, if you'll excuse me..." Ikutsuki gets up, straightening his jacket a little bit. "You must be tired from all the excitement. You should go to bed early. As they say, the early bird catches the bookworm!" After the pun, he starts chuckling uncontrollably.

Not really funny, but Minato thinks it's the perfect opportunity to suck up to the chairman, and starts chuckling as well.

"Please forgive the bad pun."

"Bad? It was amazing." Minato said between chuckles. It seems he acted okay enough, because Ikutsuki smiled at him before leaving. After Minato was sure that he wasn't able to listen to him anymore, he immediately stopped laughing. He didn't say anything, but it was obivous to the two of them that he was faking it.

"You'll get used to his lame jokes." Yukari said, getting up. "Well, I'm going to bed. Today was something else and I don't want to spend anymore time awake." She began walking to the stairs. "You two should probably sleep as soon as possible, we wouldn't want you two to be tired." She said, staring at Minato. Ooooh, so sassy. "Good night."

After Yukari was gone, the two twins began walking up as well. "Why do you have to suck up to everyone in the staff at school?" Hamuko questioned her brother. "Like, you laughing to that pun was forced to anyone but him. You're not fooling anybody."

"Well, you see..." Minato started explaining like he was about to brainstorm his sister on something she has never even thought about before, even if he's pretty sure she has. "You go out of your way to make friends with the students. Being friends with the students will give you pretty much nothing in return, except the fragile sense of friendship. Making friends with the teachers, however, you not only get a more interesting conversations with adults, there are some out there that give you ins and outs of a exam. Maybe the teacher likes you so much that he says what exactly you should study for the test. And that makes things much easier than studying everything on your own, not knowing on what to focus. And that's not really all the benefit. Overall, making friends with a handful of teachers is way better than making friends with all those students."

Minato got so caught up in explaining his 4000 IQ plan on how to deal with high school, that he didn't even realize they were already at the door of his room.

"You know, you saying that you only make friendships because they're useful or they 'give you something' make you seem very scummy." Hamuko sighed. "If I didn't know you, I'd probably think you're an asshole who stops talking to people when they're not useful to you anymore." She turned back to the hall. "Well, I'm about to get going. Try to think about what you're saying before you say it, or you'll stir all those 'useful' friendships away."

"You know, I _am_ very scummy. But don't you worry, I only talk like this to you. I'm not dumb to say this to other people, you know." He gives her a tap on the back. "Good night." As she goes away, Minato closes his door and jumps onto his bed, quickly falling asleep. 

* * *

Ikutsuki, Mitsuru and Yukari monitored the twins via a big monitor, waiting for midnight anxiously. They need to be absolutely sure about how they will react when the hidden time comes.

"Hm, so they are still sleeping..." Ikutsuki said as soon as the clock hit midnight. "Well, it's more than safe to assume the two of them do have the potential."

"Two people with the potential at once, huh?" Yukari commented. "It feels like we've hit jackpot. Although I do feel bad for spying on them like this."

"It's reasonable to feel bad. We're doing all kinds of illegal, after all." Mitsuru said, still looking for any out of the norm reactions. "However, it is necessary to do it. We still need to explore Tartarus, after all. If we don't, more and more people will be consumed by the shadows."

"Beautifully said, Mitsuru." Ikutsuki clapped, proud of her way of thinking. "We should monitor them for a few more days, but we're sure to arrange new members. Now, all that's left for us to do is wait..." 

* * *

Minato found himself sitting on a chair, in a huge blue room.

In front of him, there is a old man with a unusually large nose, and a white-haired lady with blue attendant attire.

Behind them, there is a wall that seems a chain-link of a elevator with a large clock in front of it.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young guest." Okay, sure.

There is a creepy old man and a cute lady that showed up suddenly in his dreams and he is talking in a way that makes Minato very uncomfortable.

Yeah, just another normal nigthmare. However, he doesn't really want to pinch himself to wake up, because he may not be able to sleep again once he wakes and he doesn't want to go back to being tired all the time like yesterday.

While this is weird and he wants to just wake up and see none of it, he vowed to himself to act more rationally instead of in a whim, and waiting for it is just as rational as it gets.

"My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This is Elizabeth; she's a resident here, like myself." The white-haired girl smiles at Minato and nods with her head, making him nod back.

You know, if he could just think the creepy old man out of existence, this dream wouldn't be half bad, but he is having quite a bit of trouble doing so. He just doesn't go away.

He waves his hand around and the contract he signed before appears on the table.

Alright, it's time for him to be a little scared.

The boy was definitely real, and he was also super creepy and can teleport. And he made him sign that contract.

"Since you signed the contract, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you'll require my help to do so. I only ask for you to abide by your contract in return."

Alright, he has to ask just in case.

"Is... is this a dream?" He asked. He may sound dumb to the creepy old guy, but he doesn't care. He needs at least to make sure, this uneasiness that his brain is feeling is too much to handle.

"Precisely. We have summoned you while you're asleep to give you the information you need. But you're going to come here on your own sooner or later." He explains like this is nothing to him. "Don't fret. We're our allies in your new journey. Hold on to this..." A blue key appears, floating in front of Minato. He takes it and pockets it. If this guy really can just 'summon' him like that, he doesn't want to disobey.

"Until we meet again..."


	3. Chapter 3

**9th of April, 2009**

Minato is a grown man. Well, not really, but he's almost there. Being in his late teen years, he can say that he doesn't do 'little kid stuff' anymore, like, for example, freaking out over a creepy dream.

But he'll make an exception for this one.

Not only it was one of the weirdest ones yet, he remembers it vividly. Usually, he remembers only tidbits, but not the whole thing like this time.

Looking at the clock, he still has about an hour until he was supposed to wake up. Going to sleep now is a fruitless effort, and even if he wanted to, he doubts he's going to be able to sleep again after that. That creepy old guy's face is still in his mind. What was his name again? Igor? And he said that 'they will meet again'? God, that was the worst nightmare he ever had.

Since he isn't going to sleep, it's best if he leaves early. He got enough rest anyway, so it doesn't hurt going out and buying something for breakfast before school. Or something like that. He isn't really worried about eating anything, but there's no time better than the early morning to take a walk while you wallow in self-pity.

Dressed in his school uniform, Minato tiptoes through the hall. He has to be careful to not wake anybody up.

As soon as he reaches the first floor, he can afford to be a little less cautious. He takes out his phone and takes a look at the time again. He can even go to a convenience store, grab a bite to eat, and go directly to school after that and he'll arrive just on time.

But, apparently, his thoughts about how everything perfectly synced up robbed a little too much of his attention, because when he closed his phone and looked foward he met no one else but Hamuko, still in her pajamas and half-asleep, right in front of him. Looking behind her, the female bathroom door was open. God, what horrible timing.

"Why are you up this early? And fully dressed, too?" She asked. Annoyance and tiredness mixed together on her tone. "You're not planning on leaving early without me, right" He left her to go on her own a lot before they came back, and she thinks he'll do it again today. He means, he was planning to, but she doesn't really need to know that. It's not like it's his fault these nights where he can't sleep keep happening, anyway.

"Uh... Bathroom?" He didn't have that much time to think, and one disapproving look with an raised eyebrow just confirms it isn't a good excuse. He's fully dressed in his school uniform, after all. There's no reason to think that he would change just to go to the bathroom. He supposes it's just better to tell the truth. "Look, I've had this weird nightmare and can't really slee-"

"What? Really? Have I actually caught you so red-handed that you can only re-use the same excuse you gave two days ago?" She puffed her chest. She bought it when it was false but not when it was true. "What could possibly be causing that many nightmares on you, considering you said you pretty much never had any before, Minato?"

She was pressing for an answer, and she wouldn't take an half-assed excuse. She wouldn't believe if he told her the actual nightmare, also. Even he didn't fully understand it. He really had no options for an answer.

Well, maybe there was one option.

"Maybe I'm not as over it yet as I thought I was." He put his hand behind his head and looked away, trying to look as gloomy as possible. This was clearly a dick move, but he doesn't really have anything else he can say to excuse himself now. "I just... feel uneasiness every single second that I'm here. Going back to the city where everything happened really shook me up."

Alright, he was hoping that she would just make fun of him and call him a 'big baby that can't move on'. She could tease him a little bit, he could act annoyed, and that would be the end of it.

However, when he looked back at her, there was no smirk. She actually looked downcast and sad, as if she was sorry she was questioning him that much.

Ok, now's the time to feel a little bit bad for using that. He honestly tought all the time Hamuko was being emotional with someone was an act to gain sympathy, like what _he_ usually does. Even when she talked to Yukari and asked if she 'went too far' on teasing him, he thought she was just putting on a concerned sister act. They grew up on the same environment, after all, so he thought they had a similar way of thinking.

But the way she looks right now makes him feel even worse. All the times she seemed sad and Minato just dismissed it as an act probably really hurt her, if those were honest.

Maybe not everyone is a cynical emotionless asshole like him. And if he wasn't feeling bad enough for lying and then feeling worse because the realization on 'my sister actually feels and I've been a dick for 16 years' hit, she went out and hugged him.

"You should've told me earlier..." She looked him right in his eyes, and gave a gentle smile. As much as he wanted to look away from the guilt, he couldn't dare to do so. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm here for you, you know?" She looked at him expectantly, and he then realized he was just standing there awkwardly. She was the only one doing all the hugging. He went and finally hugged her back. Both of them stopped really talking and just stayed there, enjoying the tender moment.

Well, enjoying for about 5 minutes, since both of their phones started ringing with the alarm clock. Minato rashly pulls his arms away, but Hamuko takes her time. She was always clingy, but he usually didn't hug her back or did any of this stuff. It still feels weird.

"I'll go dress up." She said to him, smiling. She finally got him to hug back, and she was looking rather gleeful because of it. "You wait here?"

"Sure." He saw her turn back and go up the stairs. As he sat down on the sofa, he looked at his hands, puzzled.

Did he do that because he actually wanted to hug her?

Or was it just because he didn't want to disappoint her?

Why does he feel the need to overanalyze every interaction he has with other people?

His social status is based on constant appeasement of people he needs to have a relationship with, like the teachers or any kind of superior, and constant isolation from everyone else. Maybe he should stop thinking too much and just go with it. Maybe he should even give this whole 'friendship' thing a go after all.

Or maybe not. After all, making friends might not be for everyone. And he's not even sure if he'll ever see any of these people again by the end of the year, like the people from his previous schools.

But then again... that never really stopped Hamuko.

Overhearing some small talk from behind him, he figures it's time to stop staring off into space. He gets up and straightens up his uniform, and waits a bit before getting out. He usually didn't partake in the girl's chitchat, and today would be no different. Especially because of how he was feeling after that encounter. He just did something very uncharacteristic, after all.

What if she's actually weirded out instead of satisfied?

What if she tells Yukari?

What if-

No, no, no no. He promised himself he would try his best to stop overthinking everything. Hamuko is not like that. If what he thought was but a mask was actually her true self, she'd never do that.

Even worse, it could be all the teasing she did was just to get back at him and not really what she wanted to do. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He starts heading out, ready for another boring, average day.

* * *

The day passes without any complications and midnight arrives.

Ikutsuki, Yukari and Mitsuru stood watching the twins, as usual. This boorish routine was, according to the chairman, absolutely necessary.

"So, how're they holding up?" Ikutsuki said, sitting down. "Doing well, I hope?"

"Yes, they have no major complications." Mitsuru said, looking over the monitors. "The both of them seem like they're already used to the effects of the Dark Hour. Minato, however, seems to be doing a lot better than his sister, for an unknown reason."

"Hmmmmm... Very interesting. Even those who do have the potential tend to be a bit unstable at first, but if they're doing fine..." He scratches his chin. "And Minato is showing some really interesting results. It looks like he'll be a natural."

"But... doesn't it seem like we're using them?" Yukari finally spat out what was on her mind all this time. "They're being treated like guinea pigs. It doesn't really feel right."

"While your concern is certainly understandable, you have to understand we need to recruit new members, or else we'll never be able to explore Tartarus." Ikutsuki explained. They can think of this little moral dilemma after they end this. "Besides, you and Hamuko became fast friends, have you not? I, for one, think fantastic teamwork would come naturally to you two. You'd feel more comfortable having your classmates on the team, too."

Right when he finished talking, a beep came out of the control panel. Mitsuru reaches for the speaker and puts whoever called on the line. There is only one person that could be calling them at this time, anyway.

"Oh, you're not gonna believe this!" Akihiko said through the speaker, sounding very breathy and excited. Oh, no. "This thing is huge! I don't have much time to talk, it's chasing me. I just wanted to let you guys know, I'm almost there!"

"Wait, hold on, does that mean he's bringing that thing here?" Yukari said, and a loud sound started echoing around them, probably from the streets.

"Chairman!" Mitsuru got up and said, suddenly, making Ikutsuki jump in his seat surprised. "Let's suspend the investigation for now, we need to prepare for battle." The chairman could only nod and send them off to the lounge while staying behind himself. The sound from the streets kept getting closer and closer.

As soon as they get to the front door, it flies open, and they could see only a glimpse of the black, gooey, disgusting gigantic creature as Akihiko comes in desperately and closes the door behind him. As they approach him screaming his name, he smirks at them.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Get ready, because it's coming and it is huge." He said, seemingly as excited as he sounded in the call. Mitsuru gave him a disapproving look, but he continued. "Oh, and it's not an ordinary one-"

Before he could finish, the ground suddenly starts shaking uncontrollably. They could only brace themselves, as if they were experiencing an earthquake.

"Yukari, go wake them up and escape out the back. Me and Akihiko are going to fight it here." Mitsuru barked these orders at them and they could only oblige. Yukari ran to the stairs while Mitsuru looked back at Akihiko.

"Don't worry- I can fight it with you, no biggie." Akihiko assured her. That cocky grin was not the same as always, however. She could tell that a little bit of fear was hiding itself in all that excitement. He was never this thrilled his whole life. "Let's kick some ass."

Yukari ran as fast as she could towards Hamuko's room. Based on the previous experiences with her brother, he would probably deny going with her unless his sister was also there. At least, that's what she thinks. She only knew him as an mean asshole who was a little bit less of a mean asshole with his sister.

She sped through the stairs and halls and finally got to Hamuko's run, her breath erratic with constant loud panting, she started beating on the door like her life depended on it. Because it probably did. After a few seconds of mindlessly pounding the door, she realized she had a master key and could just open it. Well, it would be rude, but she's not really concerned about being polite in this life-threatening situation.

"Hamuko! I don't have time to... explain..." She said between puffs and pants. Hamuko was, surprisingly, already up and pretty much dressed. Except her hair was down. "We need to get out of here. Now!"

"Wait, hold on-" She stuttered, looking back at the window and checking the clock. Yup, that was definitely the creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time. "How can you..." But she was cut off by Yukari grabbing her by the arm and starting to run.

"Look... no time..." She was barely even able to speak due to how breathy she was. "We need to get your brother... and escape through the back door... God..." She grabbed her side. Hamuko decided not to ask anything else for now. As they were running towards the second floor, they spotted Minato, who seemed to be walking in the hall, half-asleep but dressed in his school uniform.

"What's going on?" He said, rubbing his eyes. He didn't have too much time to do it, though, because Yukari grabbed his arm with her free hand and started pulling him as well. "Hey, hold on-" Yukari mumbled something, but he was unable to make sense out of it. He looked to Hamuko, who seemed just as confused as him. "God, can you let go? Where are we going, anyway?"

"We have to escape through the backdoor. Let's just hurry and-" Yukari said, as they arrived at the backdoor. But as she was fumbling to get the key, she heard Mitsuru call to her.

"Yukari, be careful. The one we're fighting isn't the one Akihiko saw! The whole ground floor is infested with-" She wasn't able to hear the full message, because loud banging in both the front and the back door deafened her.

"We...we have to pull back!" Yukari said, stuttering and completely out of breath. She couldn't even make up a proper command. She seems like she really could use a hand.

"Let's hurry to the roof. Quick." Minato said. He already explored the layout of the dorm before. If they could lock the door that leads to the roof, then whatever is banging on the doors couldn't possibly reach them. Hamuko started running and Minato was about to, but he saw that Yukari had her legs wobbling and was completely unable to escape. "Let's go! Now!" He grabbed her arm and started dashing to the stairs.

Yukari was almost stumbling all the time, and she probably would if Minato didn't make an effort to keep her on track.

As soon as they reached the second floor, they could hear the doors busting open downstairs, and the disgusting sounds of something crawling towards the top. Minato decided to double down on his running to get to safety as soon as possible. However, if he let go of Yukari, she'd probably trip and get eaten by whatever's following them. Even though Hamuko was quite ahead because she started running earlier, his efforts to go as fast as possible have him catching up to her. So much so, that even with the Yukari handicap, they've arrived at the final floor at the same time. Not that they were making this a competition. They pretty much threw themselves at the door at the same time, and Yukari fumbled to get the key and closed it behind them. They were safe.

Yukari basically collapsed in front of the door and slid down to the ground. Hamuko was pretty drained too and was trying to catch her breath. Minato was the only one standing, but he was also pretty breathy. "So, can you explain to us what's happening now?" He said, the spite in his voice was clear.

"Okay, just... give me... a minute..." She panted. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, she started. "So, there's these things we call 'Shadows', and-"

Yukari was cut off by a loud sound coming from... the roof's ledge?

Looking back at it, the ground was shaking, and it was much more intense than usual.

And then, they see it.

Black hands crawling towards the roof from the side of the building, and they can finally see the creature after all this time. A garbled mess of black ichor, with the only thing resembling an actual shape being an arm with a hand. Several arms with hands, in fact. This creature was nothing but arms and hands. Most of the hands were holding swords, while one of them was holding a mask. It began hastily crawling towards the trio.

"Stand back! I'll..." She pulls out her gun as the creature approaches. She's trembling all the way as she puts the gun to her head. "I'll do it! I'll-" But she doesn't do it. The shadow extends its arm and uses one blade to attack Yukari, which sends her flying through the air.

Her gun flies close to Minato, however. Now that he's got a closer look, the gun looks strange. It doesn't even look real, actually. And she was putting it to her head? What was the point of that? Will this do something? Should he...

"Go on... do it." He hears a voice in his head. It sounds like that boy, the one that freaked him out the first day he was here. He shakily picks up the gun. He's absolutely freaked out and doesn't really want to do this, and he's fearing what might happen if he does. But there is this lingering feeling inside his head that's pushing him to just do it. And it's stronger than all of his other emotions combined. He puts the gun to his head, still shaking. But he doesn't have time to hesitate. He sees that the shadow is going for his sister next. He has to protect her at all costs.

"Per... so... na." He mumbles to himself as soon as he pulls the trigger. A completely involuntary effort. As his vision blurs white for a second, he looks up to see something forming right upside. Everyone, even the shadow, stood still to watch what was happening.

"Thou art I... and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am Orpheus; master of strings." A big, mechanical-like creature stood above Minato. He had an harp on his back and a face very similar to Minato's, only with white hair, black skin and red eyes. However, that guy didn't last for long. He began convulsing like crazy, and Minato felt a pounding headache. Holding his head, he began screaming in sheer agony.

Orpheus's head explodes, and hands begin coming from where should be his throat. Not too long after, the rest of the body was shattered and what came after was a much larger creature that looked like a a full-on death machine. It had several coffins beside it, and had a large sword. The most defining feature was it's skull. A large jaw with what seemed like very pointy teeth came out from this creature, as it launched itself to the shadow. It cut the shadow in several little pieces as Minato felt his head hurt worse and worse every time. The pain only intensified and intensified. His legs were as wobbly as thel could be.

And as fast as it happened, it was over. In the blink of an eye. As that creature transformed back into Orpheus, Minato's legs finally gave in, and he fell face-first into the ground. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, and he could barely even think.

"Minato?!" He heard his sister scream and come running towards him. "Minato!" She said, desperately. She talked like she was starting to cry. Which she probably was. "Come on... answer me!" She started shaking him off, which only helped his consciousness slip away even more.

This was it.

His vision was getting blurry.

He could barely even think.

The cries of despair of his sister were the only thing there, and those were fading as well.

Well, maybe this is for the best. He was an absolute ass to everyone, including his sister, for his whole life. Yukari almost fought the shadow for him, too. And she is a better person than him. It's probably better that he goes so that his sister actually has someone reliable around.

He thinks how pathetic it is that he can so easily accept his own death. He thought about changing every single day. To be someone just like the other average teen. But he doubts that, in the end, he could do it.

His vision is now pretty much all blurred and the sounds were barely lingering on his brain.

God, maybe speed this up? Please?

And, as soon as he wished for his departure for be quick, it happened. There it was.

Pitch... blue?

Oh, no. He knows what this is. The opera and the piano playing at the back of his head, together with the mechanical sounds of an elevator. The old, large-nosed, wide-eyed man was there, together with the blue lady.

"Oh, so this is what you meant by 'Until we meet again', eh?" Minato said, stretching. He immediately reggreted it, though. His body was still painful all around after falling to the ground and his head was in a very sensitive state. Oh, yeah, that happened. Well, good news is, he's not dead. Probably. Bad news is that Hamuko is probably worried out the ass. And he was trying to keep it a secret that he saw Yukari able to move around during that time too, so he'll have some explaining to do when he wakes up. _If_ he wakes up.

"And this won't be the last time we meet." Igor said, with his usual creepy smile. "That power you've displayed is called a 'Persona'. You became unconscious after awakening to it. However, it's nothing to worry about. It may take a while for you to fully comprehend, but a Persona is a facet of your personality- one that surfaces once you react to external stimuli. Like a mask, that protects you from many hardships. That being said, your power is still weak..."

"Well, it's not like I'll understand it immediately, but how can I get it to be stronger?"

"Your Persona ability will evolve based on your Social Links. That is, your emotional ties with others." Aw, shit. "The stronger your Social Links, the stronger your Persona ability. But that is about it. I shouldn't keep you here any longer. Next time, you will come here by yourself. Until then... farewell."


	4. Chapter 4

**10th of April, 2009.**

Hamuko sat down at a blue metal stool, staring at the hospital bed. Looking at him, it doesn't even look like he just collapsed yesterday. He's sleeping so peacefully. Ikutsuki said that they would explain everything to her tonight and, therefore, she should be at the dorm right now. But she can't really be bothered to go there when her brother's in this state.

The door opens, but she keeps her eyes fixated on Minato. The doctor will probably just check how he's doing and then leave, as he has been doing every half an hour or so. They seem rather puzzled by his condition, and she can't even tell them what really happened. She actually still wonders how they'll convince the hospital crew that he just 'suddenly passed out'.

"Oh, you're still here?" Oh, so it's not the doctor. What a shame, he would've been easier to deal with. She has to look up now. "Shouldn't you go back to the dorm? They're waiting for you to explain-" Yukari flinches for a moment. She probably just now realized the tired expression- the deep bags under Hamuko's dull, lifeless eyes. "Hey, hold on, have you been here this entire time? Awake?"

"It's very hard for me to sleep soundly when my brother is a coma, you know?" That came out dryer than expected. Maybe it's in the Arisato DNA to be an absolute ass when they're sleepy. It took Yukari to visibly recoil because of the sudden rudeness for Hamuko to suddenly realize how bad that sounded. "I'm sorry. I'm just... not myself today. I didn't mean to sound so bitchy."

"No, It's fine." Yukari decided to finally sit down. "It's kind of my fault that he's in this state right now, I understand you'd be a little mad at me." She gives her a smile. "Lash out all you want. No offense will be taken."

"You don't need to blame yourself." Hamuko said, looking back at Minato. "If anything, I was surprised that my brother actually had the spine to stand up and defend us. A bit proud, even." She began ruffling the sleeping boy's hair. "I've got no idea on how he mustered all that courage, though. That was very unlike him, but it was also kinda cool."

"Yeah, he was pretty cool." Yukari gave a grin. "If I didn't know any better, I wouldn't ever guess that it was his first time fighting. He fought those shadows exactly like Akihiko and Mitsuru do."

"Minus the collapsing part, I hope?"

Yukari gave a small chuckle. "Not anymore, at least. But maybe fainting IS normal for first-timers. I myself haven't gotten around to summoning my Persona, so perhaps I'll be the one visiting the hospital soon enough."

"Hey, don't say that!" Hamuko laughed for a bit. It was nice to have someone to talk to during all this. However, her happy expression vanished as fast it appeared. "Is this really how it is? Is my brother going to be safe?"

"Well, only one way to find out." She stood up, and offered her hand to the twin. "Let's come back to the dorm to get your explanation."

She hesitates for a second, looking back back and forth at Minato and Yukari. She then takes the hand. "He'll not wake up any faster if I just stay here all worried and restless, will he?" She gives a smile. "But I do hope you're right about it being the norm. If this also happened for both Mitsuru and Akihiko, I'll be more at ease. The last thing I want to hear is that he's an special case."

* * *

"He's a very special case." Ikutsuki explained, striding around in circles around the sofas of the command room. Seated on them, are the three female residents of the dorm. A large table with a silver briefcase layed above it was in the center of the group. "We've never seen anything like his awakening."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. So you're telling me that NEVER happened before, and we therefore have no way of knowing if my brother will wake up?" Hamuko protested, arms crossed and brow furrowed.

"Don't misunderstand. I'm quite sure he won't be sleeping forever. That much is certain." Ikutsuki eased her worries, still going around the seats. According to him, he thinks better when in movement. Weird. "When I say his awakening was unique, I mean the second Persona coming out of the first one. This was, most likely, a temporary steroid to his powers. Maybe something in his mind realized he couldn't defeat the shadow in his normal state, and decided to boost it up." He finally sat down and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. "In most cases, Persona users just feel really tired and fall asleep for a day or two at most after their discovery. However, this sudden upgrade had a side effect: It fatigued his mind beyond anything he had ever experienced before. That's why it may be a while before he wakes up. But don't fret about it too hard, nobody stayed unconscious forever just by evoking their own Persona."

The auburnette couldn't hold in her sigh of relief. He'll be okay. "Well, since you didn't mention any estimate, I take it you don't know for how much time he'll be asleep for?" But just that wasn't enough. She needed a 'when'.

"If I had to presuppose based on the readings done since he got here, he can probably endure a lot of mental wear and still be somewhat fine. Anytime between next week and maybe a month for now should be enough for him to get back at it."

"That's quite the rough projection. Can't you narrow that a bit more precisely?" Yukari decided to speak up. "It's a very ridiculous notion to think that she'll just be fine with only being able to talk to him again in early May."

"Sadly, anything more specific than that would be inaccurate." Mitsuru decided to interject. It was pretty obvious that she would be trying to crack this as well. "The chances of it actually taking a month are very slim, however we have little to no data on that second Persona. It's nearly impossible to accurately determine how tiring it would be to use it."

"That's... a bit more comforting to know, if nothing else." Hamuko gave a long, loud sigh. She figured that overthinking this would be tiring. And, to be honest, she was tired enough. She got up. "Is that all? If so, I'd like to try and go to sleep."

"Just one more thing." Ikutsuki stopped her right in her tracks, opening the case layed there on the table. On it, there was a silver gun and a red armband, with 'S.E.E.S.' written in black. "As you are one with the potential, I was hoping you'd join our cause." He gave her a goofy grin, as if he meant no harm.

"Excuse me?" She blinked in disbelief. "You... don't really expect me to accept this, do you?" She paused for a little while, waiting for a 'just kidding', but it didn't came. He just kept looking at her. Another sigh was in order. "Look, I'm really grateful for you accepting us into the dorm and such, but fighting those... things is not for me. It seems like a very dangerous job with no reward."

"Really? That's a shame." He said as he face morphed into a cartoonishly disappointed expression. He looked at the pink-clothed brunette. "Well, I guess you'll have to take on the duty to protect Minato. Can you do it, Yukari?"

"Yeah, I think I can." She said, but Ikutsuki gave her a doubtful look with a raised eyebrow. "I mean it! No more of what happened yesterday. That was a one-time thing. I can do guard duty."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. What do you mean by 'protecting' him and 'guard duty'?" Hamuko spoke, mildly annoyed. Mostly because how they've kept in the dark that he needed to be protected in the first place.

"I believe we didn't give you an proper explanation for everything, right?" Ikutsuki smiled towards her. "Well, I want to keep it as concise as possible. I'm sure you've seen the coffins, right?" The chairman started, gesturing as if he was giving a lecture. "People usually transmogrify into then to avoid the shadows during the Dark Hour. People with the potential, however, are exempt from this. They have to fight to survive. That's why the people at the dorm are always awake when the hour hits; if they get caught off guard, they'll probably die."

"Oh, that explains everything. So that's why Yukari will be taking care of him." She took a moment to process the information. "Yukari will be taking care of him..." She repeated, a bit under her breath, unease in her face. She likes Yukari very much and she's a great friend, but she's not very... reliable in combat. And even though she swears she'll get it right this time, Hamuko can't be sure. Apparently the doubt was too obvious on her expression, because she saw Ikutsuki's lips curl slightly into a devious smirk. But as soon as it appeared, it was gone, as he began to speak.

"That's kind of the reason I wanted you to join, actually." Ikutsuki took the revolver from the still-open briefcase. "By joining, we'd give you this Evoker, and your first assignment would be to ensure his safety until he wakes up." He then gives another smile. "But your reasons for not joining are clearly understandable, and I'd never push you into joining. Yukari's got his back, right?" He seemed to be repeating on purpose that Yukari was to take care of him, which didn't really comfort her. Quite the opposite, actually.

"Yeah, you don't need to worry about being a part of the team if you don't want to, Hamuko." Yukari's kind words only stung her friend even more, and she didn't even realize it.

"I actually..." She stopped. Everyone in the room looked at her, expectantly. "I think I'll join. My brother's safety is on the line, and I..." She takes a deep breath. "I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself if something happened to him."

"Such a strong resolve." Ikutsuki now gave a smile for everyone to see. He then walked to the new member, armband and pistol in hand. "Don't worry, I assure you this won't be a waste of your time." He notices a small yawn coming from Hamuko. "Well, as you said, you need to go to sleep, right?"

"Yeah, I'll take a nap. Just..." Hamuko looks down again, at the items just given to her. Something feels off, like she really didn't have a choice in joining or not. "Just keep Minato out of this, alright? I don't want him to go through anymore."

"Don't worry, I won't ask if he'd like to join." Ikutsuki patted her on the back. "Yukari will wake you up when she would be going to the hospital. Until then, go have a rest. Good night!"

"Good night." She sighed and left. She was basically slugging to her bedroom, every step seemed to bear more weight than normal. Her head was heavier than usual, too. She supported herself on the wall while walking and basically threw herself on her bed when she reached her room, sleeping immediately.

**15th of April, 2009.**

The very, very cold air scraped against her bare legs. What would normally leave anyone shivering seemingly didn't affect her. She got mostly used to how chilly the room is, being here almost all the time and all.

The room was lifeless as always, the only sound being his faint breathing. The flowers atop of the drawer did nothing to try and bring life into the room, as they were pretty much fully withered by the people in charge not really caring enough to water it.

So far, this guard duty has been really easy, if not incredibly boorish. She's glad that nothing happened so far, but not being able to use technology at all during a whole hour just blows. She examines the Naginata that was given to her a few days ago by Mitsuru. According to her, since Personas are exhausting to use, they are treated mostly as a last resort, while normal weapons are preferred. She didn't get a chance to use it, and she doesn't really know how to use it. Ugh, it's so tedious! All this precious time, wasted! She's just thinking about frivolous things nonstop. Even worse, the thoughts are repeating inside her head and it sucks! She could be studying, but she's more of a classroom learner. Bookworming just doesn't work for her like it works for her brother. She's condemned to sit here and do nothing. The only thing that makes all this a little more tolerable is-

"Hey, I'm back!" Yukari said, skipping into the room. "Sorry for taking so long." Ah, yes, Yukari. At first, she wasn't supposed to be here. Instead, she was to keep at the dorm with Mitsuru. However, after the first session of Hamuko being forced to stare at the wall for one whole hour, she basically begged the brunette to come with her the next time. And thankfully she wasn't against it.

"Oh, it's fine. More importantly, what was that about Erika?"

"Yuuto asked her out, like, today. And it looks like they're dating now." Even though nobody can hear them during this time, they are still leaning in and whispering whispering like they were in a classroom. Hamuko would normally complain that they looked like gossiping giddy schoolgirls, but she realizes that they ARE gossiping giddy schoolgirls.

"But I thought she was aiming for Akihiko, and wouldn't settle for anything else? What happened?"

"You know when Junpei called you over this morning? She told me she had an epiphany after she overheard Akihiko telling a group of girls 'he's not interested in any of them' and going to see Mitsuru right after that. She thinks they're dating and she, according to her, 'couldn't compare to the oh so perfect Mitsuru'."

"And why didn't you tell her they weren't?"

"Well, it's better that she gives up on something that'll never happen instead of holding on to it. He only ever thinks about his training and nothing else. To be honest, I'm not even sure which way Akihiko swings."

"If he swings any way at all."

"Yeah, exactly!" She stopped to give a little bit of a chuckle. "But, after that she told us she was giving up and accepting the first guy that confesses to her, and Yuuto had quite the perfect timing."

"That definitely won't last." Hamuko leaned back on her chair and gave a sigh. "But I guess that means we're the only ones single in our group?"

"Oh, is that a tinge of disappointment I hear in your voice?" Yukari leaned in even further. "Why, did some hot guy catch your eye?"

"No, and that's what's bothering me." She said, in an almost sad tone. Yukari backed off a little bit, thinking she was being too intrusive. "All of my friends are craving after some guy and I'm just like... not interested in any of them. Maybe hopping from school to school made me too used to super hot dudes and the ones at Gekkoukan are just... meh, you know?"

"Don't worry about it. Dudes are not everything, anyway." She looked at her friend's face to see the reaction. Hamuko still seemed downcast, however. Maybe it's not the answer she's looking for. "Besides, you're still new, you haven't met everyone yet, I'm sure there's someone who suits your tastes in our school as well-"

Unfortunately, the rather pleasant conversation they were having was interrupted by loud cries and screams coming from the hallway. Immediately, they stopped talking and grabbed their weapons, dashing to the door.

It wasn't long before they saw what they were looking for. In fact, it was right outside the door. A blonde nurse, one that was taking care of Minato earlier, was crouching, almost falling on the floor, crying out in high-pitch. Black sludge was dripping from her scalp onto her face and the floor.

Hamuko rushed to aid the melting mess of a woman, but her arm as gripped by her friend.

"What are you doing? We need to help her!" The auburnette screamed, trying to break free.

"And what will you do to help? We can't do anything about this! Stay back before it attacks you-"

But Yukari's warnings came too late. When Hamuko looked back and barely put her Naginata up, a mess of a dark slime jumped to her. The impact, being little short of a direct hit, sent her flying until she crashed on the wall. Her weapon was thrown out of her hand, landing beside her brother's bed.

The brunette grabbed her bow and an arrow and shot right at the Shadow. Said Shadow, however, quickly jumped off of Hamuko, and the arrow landed just right of Hamuko's face. Realizing, just now, that using archery in this closed small room to hit a small, slippery and quick pool of muck with two potential victims if she misses is a bad idea, she drops the bow altogether and reachers for her gun, putting it to her head and, and-

There it is again. Hesitation. It's pretty simple, she tells herself. Just press the trigger, blow this thing away, and everything will be fine. But the fear far overwhelmed anything she felt up until this point. Looking back at Hamuko, she seemed to be supporting herself on the wall, gun also pointed at her own head, but she was shaking. Shivering with fear as well.

Hamuko's hesitation, however, was broken when the Shadow tried to jump on the bed that Minato was laying in. There was no time for fear or anything of the sort. If she didn't pull the trigger, her brother was going to die.

And she pulled it.

In a flash, she felt exhausted- the most tired she's ever felt. It was like her brain was drained from every little bit of activity it had, only wanting to shut down.

"Thou art I... and I am thou."

A explosion of flames occurred above Hamuko. It seemed like it came out of nothing, and yet, it was burning midair with passion. Yukari lowered her gun, watching in awe. Even the Shadow seemed to stop climbing the bed, choosing instead to slowly back away from the giant fireball.

"From the sea of thy soul, I cometh..."

The fire died down a bit, only to reveal a woman sporting a black gown with golden ornaments all-around- a dress straight out of a funeral. Said woman was still ablaze, but it didn't affect her.

"I am the goddess of felicity and longevity, Sati!"

As the new Persona swayed with her fingers, she pointed them to the pool of black sludge in front of her, making it erupt into flames. The blast knocked the gross muck across the room, landing it below a sink close to Yukari. The blow seemed to take all but a fraction of the shadow's energy. It was limp, the always-moving goo from before was just shivering. It seems like anything will take it out of its misery.

The one in pink clad decided to end it all. After all, she was afraid to use her bow, and she was afraid to use her Evoker. She could at least make the job a little bit easier for the brand-new Persona user that's bound to be fatigued after this adrenalide rush is over. She took an arrow in her hand and just pierced through the knocked out shadow with it, which was the final nail in the coffin for the monster.

As the situation died down, what Yukari predicted came true: As soon as Hamuko's Persona faded, she collapsed to the floor, taken immediately by deep slumber. She helped her to another one of the free beds of the hospital, as time returned to normal and the night shift workers at the hospital returned to their usual work, ocasionally wondering just where this nurse went. 

* * *

_Alright, so I don't really do these 'Author's Notes', but I took WAY too long to write this chapter. Back in June I was busy with exams and whatnot, and a lot of things happened in July as well (including my birthday, which was also busier than expected). I'd like to thank everyone for the reviews, even if this fic doesn't have big chapters and a consistent upload schedule it's cool to see people commenting on the work. Thanks again and have a good day!_


	5. Chapter 5

**19th of April, 2009**

Suddenly coming into consciousness wasn't a pleasing task. His eyelids weighed a ton. Just the simple act of opening his eyes felt like lifting a manhole cover from a sewer drain. And when he did, he was met with a white ceiling and the warm spring sun invading his eyeballs.

He only then realised how uncomfortable he felt all-around. His mouth was dry, his stomach felt empty, his muscles were a drag to move. But the biggest offender was his brain- A pounding headache, and a inexplicable tiredness. Even though he slept for only god knows how long, he still felt exhausted.

After a bit of observing around, he could tell he's in a hospital room. Drab, boring and bland. There's nothing here to pass the time. His eyes scan the walls until he finds a clock. It's about the time he would normally be leaving school. He can only hope Hamuko will go there right after class ends-

Oh, shit. That's right. Hamuko. He was trying to make sure she didn't know about Yukari being able to move within that time, and he was going to get some answers and... Yeah, that all seems pretty pointless now, huh? She probably already knows more than him depending on how much time he spent here.

He stops for a moment to try to recollect his thoughts. What seemed to be another forgettable and dull schoolyear turned out to be quite draining. Besides the gooey monsters that he somehow managed to not encounter in the ten-ish years that he's been experiencing the 'hour', there's also the creepy old man and the blue lady that keep popping up. He scrapped the idea of them being just a dream with both the second visit and the first appearence of one of those creatures. So for a Persona to get stronger he doesn't need training, but instead to make 'friends and bonds', which sounds like the stupidest power that he's ever heard of.

He would love to ask the people at the dorm some more information about this, however he can only imagine how stupid he would sound when he says 'so these people that showed up while I was sleeping said I need to make buddies to be more powerful, is that true?'. What was the point of the dorm, anyway? Did they knew he had that kind of power? How?

He lays back on the pillow and closes his eyes. So it was all a set-up. Alright. He blames only himself for not finding out sooner. After all, what are the chances that two out of the three residents of the dorm could move inside this seemingly supernatural time that only he and his sister knew about for ten years? Maybe even the monster that he fought was a setup, and Yukari was supposed to defeat it and explain everything afterwards.

Ugh, he's doing it again. His alone toughts do cook up some interesting theories, but they're kinda scary to think about. If this is a setup, Yukari certainly didn't follow the plan. Akihiko got winged by the giant goo pile, too. If he didn't summon that Persona, then he, his sister, and Yukari would all be dead at this point. So if this was all planned out, then whoever the pupeeteer is didn't have their safety first thing in their minds.

However, thinking about all of the possibilities will not confirm any of them. At this point, he's just hoping someone comes in and notices he's awake. A nurse, a doctor, the janitor, it doesn't really matter. He only wants someone to talk to, even if superficially, to stop himself from thinking.

Well, it didn't take long for him to hear a door opening and closing, and some chatter rapidly approaching. Perfect timing, girls. He keeps his act of still being asleep, just to eavesdrop a little. He's curious on what they talk about when he's supposedly out of the picture.

Unfortunately, his attempt was moot. They just talked about normal stuff. Music, classes, books, homework. Even when they talked about boys there was nothing of note, only Hamuko stating that the boys at this school are uninteresting. He wasn't sure what to expect, really, but there was no juicy gossip involved.

Realizing he won't hear anything new or interesting, it's time to fake wake up. He'll ask where he is, how many days he's been out of it, and will probably get some clearance on what is happening from the people at the dorm. He slowly opens his eyes. They're too focused on talking to eachother that they don't notice him, so he shuffles to get half his body up and gives a low, soft grunt.

He rubbed his left eye with his hand and tried to do the most soft, delicate voice possible to ask the most expected question.

"Where am I-"

"OHMYGODYOU'REAWAKE!" Sadly, his facade went tumbling down when he was basically pounced by his sister, who started hugging him tightly. This display of affection didn't work well with his body that was barely maintained by low-quality serum, and a bone-breaking pain started to take over all of his senses.

After a wave of 'ouch'es and 'ow's, Hamuko did get pulled back a bit by Yukari, and Minato almost slumped down back to the pillow, but kept himself barely sitting up.

"I'm sorry!" She distanced herself from him. "It's just been a long time and I kinda just lost myself there and-"

"Hugging is fine, but be a little more tactful about it. Please." She didn't wait another second to return to the hug, her head resting on his chest. "For how long I've been here?"

"About ten days." Yukari said. She was looking at his sister with disbelief, and not really making an effort to hide it. Sure, Hamuko seems like a loving person at all, but this is certainly a new for someone who just met her. Deciding to mess with Yukari a little bit, he began ruffling her hair. And that same weirded out look was now directed towards him, albeit intensified a thousand times. Hamuko certainly didn't mind the hair-stroking, too caught up in the reunition to notice how uncharacteristic of him this is.

"Yeah, I can now understand this kind of reaction. It's a lot of time." He looks to the hug-machine below him and smiles to himself. It goes away, though. Based on the natural progression of the conversation, he has to sit through an explanation he already knows the answer to. It'd be weird for him not to ask this. "So, uh... What exactly happened ten days ago?"

Oh, boy. He wishes that he asked a more specific question, because she's just dutifully explaining like she's talking to someone completely oblivious. Which is fair, because he supposedly is. She's explaining Personas, Shadows, and all this fun stuff he already knows about. It's at least nice to now the weird time has actually a name, 'Dark Hour', and they have an organization dedicated to ending it. And this was most likely a setup, though she didn't mention how they knew. But given how she reacted to him the first time they've met, she most likely wouldn't know anyway. She's just a pawn. After a while of her just talking about it, Hamuko did retreat and sit down again, but didn't interrupt her friend's explaining.

"I believe that covers all of it. Unless I've missed anything?" She looks towards Hamuko, who just shakes her head. "Well, if you have any questions, we have pretty much the whole night to cover them."

"No, you explained it pretty well. This is just... a lot to take in." It's not. He already knows most of this stuff through the encounters in the Velvet Room. But he needs to keep his ignorant facade up. He lays down again and looks out the window, dusk already in motion. He lost himself a tad on just appreciating the beautiful scenery, the purple-ish sky eating away at the city of Iwatodai.

Yukari began texting on her phone, and quickly enough it buzzed with a text back. After some fumbling around, she suddenly got up.

"Hey, I'll have to go back to the dorm. They need me to take care of something. You're fine, right?" She said, looking to his sister.

"I think I can manage for this night, yeah." And with that, the ever-loving pink-clothed brunette was off, giving them some much-needed time alone. They spent some time quietly, but it would be foolish to waste this moment. Especially with how tired Hamuko was, she clearly wasn't spending any time sleeping.

"So, what's with the armband?" Unnaturally, it was Minato who started, pointing to the lazily-put red and black band. It's so wrinkled that he can't really read what's written on it. "Is it from a club in school?"

"Well, I guess for such a lenghty explanation, Yukari left out a lot of specifics. Their organization to erradicate the Shadows is called 'S.E.E.S.' and I joined them, so this is to identif-"

"Wait, hold on." He sits up, abruptly. His tense muscles hurt from moving too quickly, but he continues. "You joined them? Why?"

"You know about what she said that Shadows show up at night? I needed to watch out for you while you slept, you know?" She puffed her cheeks, but didn't seem too offended. "And to protect you, I needed this." She takes off the silver gun from the holster, brandishing it. "That's why I joined."

"Couldn't you just borrow it from Yukari?" He sighs and pushes away his bangs from his eye. "But I guess I overreacted a bit. When you said you joined them, I thought you meant for good and not only until I got better. But if you're leaving after this, then it's fine."

"What? No, I'm not leaving them. Why would you think that?" Her face changed. She was all smiles when he woke up, but her tone became more and more serious the more this conversation went on. He doesn't really want to have this talk either, considering she waited for so long to see him again, but he doesn't want her to hurt herself. She will be mildly displeased, but if this goes right, she'll not be forced to go on suicide missions to kill supernatural monsters.

"Because staying with them is dumb and dangerous." His tone saying this was surprisingly serious. He's not in the mood to quip. "Why would you even stay with them? This doesn't benefit you in any way." He jerks himself so his torso is now facing her, which make his muscles hurt a bit again. But he tries to ignore it.

"Well, I'd feel bad just saying I'm joining them just to leave right after." Her look changed again. She was getting sadder, and possibly hiding something.

"Hamuko." He leans in, to try to make his body seem more imposing. He wants to be honest with her, but some low-blow persuasion tactics would be nice, too. "You're saying you'll risk your life for a indeterminate ammount of time because you borrowed a model gun for 10 days. Can you please reconsider?"

"I also..." She stopped for a moment "I also want to end it. Their views just happen to align with that. I appreciate you worrying and all but..."

"Did they even tell you on how they intend to end it, though?" He said as she went silent. "Everyone who experiences the hour would probably also want it to end, but do THEY even know how to end it? Based on what we saw on the roof, they aren't the most professional team."

She took a while to respond, apparently she hasn't been doing her information-gathering. Which is odd for her. Maybe whoever is behind all this is too unapproachable or scary? He's honestly just hoping she would give up. His sister might be headstrong, but it's not possible that she won't at least think twice. He's even being the seemingly rational one in this conversation too, which is not always the case.

"If there's-" She starts, that sadness from before somehow coming back, while Minato watches intently. "If there's anything that's able to stop the Dark Hour, I'm gonna support it wholeheartedly. I know it's dangerous and you probably think I'm stupid, but I'm not stepping down from this. This might be the only chance to do it." Well, this didn't go as planned. Something must have happened for her to be so adamant with this, and it looks like he can't get it out of her head.

"Well, then I'm joining, too." Time for plan B, then. Honestly, he doesn't care about anything this organization wants to accomplish. Finishing the Dark Hour would certainly be nice, but above all else, he doesn't want her to get hurt pursuing this lofty but ultimately impossible goal. As much as he doesn't want to fight the Shadows, this might be the only way to keep her safe. And, hey, it might even give the 'sleeping soundly at night without being scared shitless about the possibility of a monster attacking you out of nowhere' bonus, which is great.

"I'm sorry, but, no." She said, actually regaining confidence once he mentioned joining. This will probably be hard. "I won't allow you to get hurt over my decision."

"What about me, why don't I get a 'decision'?" The tone of his voice his raised subconsciously, and he moved his legs so that he can get up from the bed whenever he wants. His legs are frail, however, and the pain is impossible to ignore. He muffles his own pained grunt by biting his lip. He might have to use more underhanded tactics to try and sway her to his side of thinking.

"I wouldn't be against you joining normally, but did you forget what happened when you tried to use an Evoker?" She said, calmer than before, even. His attempts aren't working at all. The situation is quickly spiraling out of his favor, even though he literally left her speechless moments prior. "I don't want to have you going into a coma again. What if you take longer to wake up the next time you try to use your Persona? What if you never wake up at all?"

Well, it's time for emergency measures. He's going to get up, get right into her face, maybe even say 'please'. Maybe it will work and she'll be too pressured to say 'no' to her sickly brother. Maybe she will feel sorry for him and notice that this conversation is doing some damage to his mental, and just let him in. But either way, this is his best shot. He thinks. There's probably more viable options, he was doing so well earlier, after all, but he can't for the life of him think of an alternative.

As his legs pump him upward, he unfortunately didn't account for all that cramped muscle pain from earlier. As soon as he got up, he instantly felt both incredible wobbliness and excruciating pain. He reflexively let out a pained scream and reached for his legs. Hamuko actually got up, but he fell back down almost immediately. She rushed to him as quickly as she could.

"See? I don't want to see you like this, Minato!" She cried out, genuine concern and worry in her face. Her voice was wavery, and her eyes were getting watery. God, he did this to her. Why does he do these kinds of things? Why can't he just let her be? He says he'll protect her, but, realistically, what could he do? It's like she said, he doesn't know if he even can use a Persona without passing out again. "Please, be a little more reasonable about this!"

Maybe it's the whole situation, the emotional rollercoaster, how bad he feels for making his sister feel like that. Maybe it's his own fear of fighting the shadows and the supernatural. Maybe he finally accepted that he can't really do anything to stop her, at least not with his words. But he didn't want to have this discussion anymore. He just reached out and hugged her, out of his own volition.

"Fine."

After a little while, the hug is broken and he looks at her face. She's smiling at him. Not a mocking one, at least he hopes not. He can't tell with how tired he is. Not a sleepy one especifically, but this felt like sandpaper on his poor brain.

The rest of their time talking was uneventful. While Minato was dropping some more hints that she should leave and this is stupid, but she did not falter. Not a single bit. It's unfortunate, but her resolve is too strong to break. It was mostly reduced to school talk, with emphasis on their dormmates, but nothing of note.

The Dark Hour came and went without any sort of complications or events. His sister was already incredibly exhausted. With having to wait until it happens and goes away every day, she obviously gets very little rest. Instead of prolonging the conversation, he just told her to sleep and she happily obliged.

He wasn't able to rest immediately, though. His brain was clouded with alternate things he could've done or said that would steer the argument in his favor. Seconds, minutes, hours of being disappointed in himself that he didn't think of saying certain things that would've certainly given him an edge in the discussion. But it was all a moot point by now.

He blew the only chance he had to solve this easily away. He could've noticed the muscle pain, he could've been a little more assertive in joining in with her, he could've tried to be more persuasive in trying to make her leave.

But he didn't.

He put on a loathsome display, ahd his patheticness is going to come back to haunt him. He just knows it.

It always does.

She's going to get hurt, and it's his fault.

His fault she joined.

His fault she didn't leave.

Drowning in this lamentable state, he drifts back to sleep. After all, he still was somehow tired.

But it's not going to be a pleasant night.


	6. Chapter 6

**20th of April, 2009**

Strained muscles, back pain and a headache are only a few of the reasons he should be resting soundly and peacefully on his comfortable bed. He should be laying down, free from any draining activities, especially physical ones, just staying in his room doing good ol' nothing.

Yeah, he _should_ be.

But, alas, here he is, limping to school in this sorrowful state alongside his chirpy and cheerful sister.

Well, seeing her overjoyed like that is actually quite nice, especially since they left at a bit of a sour note after their discussion yesterday. He actually feels sorry for her having to wait for so long. And when he finally woke up, he made them have a rather unpleasant chat. Not cool at all, but it's not like he could've done anything to prevent that.

What he could've prevented, however, is them still being in this disgraceful city. But he was unable to convince her to just leave this place and never think about shadows again. Seeing her grinning ear to ear like that while saying that everything's going to be alright is comforting, sure, but the looming threat that she could get hurt or worse because of these dumb teenagers wanting to be monster hunters is pretty much all he can think about, which overwhelms any sort of contentment he would normally feel from this moment.

"You know, I should be making you carry me there." He also is not at all pleased about the fact that she basically forced him to go to school on day one. She gives him a dismissive look. "I'm serious, I don't know if my legs will stand their ground any longer. Pick me up."

"I'd be more than happy to oblige if we weren't going to a crowded place like that." Hamuko said, looking him straight in the eye. "People are already making up a lot of rumours because of you just suddenly not going to class anymore, what would they say if the first time they saw you in two weeks was me carrying you?"

"It's not like I care what these idiots say. Besides, it would be mutually beneficial: I'd be able to get to school without forcing my poor muscles, and you'd gain some popularity by being a 'helpful sister helping her poor brother that really needs it!' or something like that."

"If you really needed it, the doctor would've told you'd be unable to walk without a wheelchair or a crutch." She sighed dramatically. Even with his complaining being more insufferable today than usual, she seems like she's at least having a lot of fun being able to banter with him again. "Look, you'll never get used to walk again if you don't actually _try_ to walk again."

"But why do I have to do something this taxing? It's such a long way from the dorm to here." He whined. "I could've started with something simpler, like going to the convenience store and back. You know, work my way up until I can properly do this?"

"Aw, c'mon, you're doing just fine!" She said, as they arrived at the entrance. Yukari was waiting patiently there, like she always is. They began walking towards her. Well, more like Hamuko begins walking and he just has to follow. If he's being honest, he doesn't particularly want to talk to Yukari, but he also doesn't want to go to the classroom alone. "Besides, complaining won't do a thing. We're already here, you just need to go up the stairs to the classroom now."

"So, how's he doing?" Yukari asked when they got close enough. She seemed genuinely worried, which is nice. But is also unusual. After all, he though she would just hate him after his outburst fom that day. Maybe it's just politeness, who knows.

"Let's say that, if I had a little less meat on my legs, I'd be bedridden."

"Wow, is it really that bad? Even after all that rest?" Maybe him saving her life made her forget all about him being an asshole. Or at least forgive him. Not that he wants forgiveness for that, anyway. They _were_ being pretty annoying, after all.

"I mean, that rest is kind of the reason they're hurting so much." He didn't even do much legwork when he was up on the roof, actually. "Turns out having your muscles on standby for two weeks and then walking so much right the next morning is a very painful combination."

"You must've been going through a lot, huh?" Yukari says softly, her eyes looking downcast. Does she feel bad? Well, she better do. "It's my fault, if only I..." Damn right it is. You know, being pitied is not all that bad, now that he thinks about it. It's better than being disliked, at least. "If only I had done what I was supposed to do, you wouldn't need to suffer through that."

"What's with this sobfest? What is done is done, it's not like you can change what you've done now, Yuks!" Hamuko chimed in just when Yukari was about to apologize. What a buzzkill. "I'm sure Minato understands, don't worry about it. The best form of apology to him will be you working your hardest to end the Dark Hour!"

"Why are you... talking like this?" Her brother protested. She's not... acting like she usually does. He didn't really pay much mind while she was talking to only him, but it's a weird, almost annoying kind of optimism that he can't put a finger on where it came from. "What's gotten into you?"

"She's been spending a lot of time with Junpei." Yukari explained. That might make sense. He wouldn't know, he didn't spend too much time talking to him to know. But he seems the type. "She's desperately in need of better company, even if she denies it."

But his sister does seem gung-ho about S.E.E.S., which means it's going to be harder to convince her to just give up and go away from Iwatodai. Well, it seems nothing will go his way if he doesn't put in way more effort into this than he put into anything he ever did before. He just hopes that he can do _something_ about this at this point.

The bell ringing snaps him back to reality. Apparently, the girls were arguing about whether or not Junpei is a good influence while he was thinking.

He slugged towards his classroom, trying his best to ignore his classmates that see him and clearly begin talking about his long absence. Jeez, they could at least be a bit more subtle about it. He just wishes that none of them walk up to him to ask about it.

Another boring school day awaited him. 

* * *

The morning was going smoothly. He was actually paying more attention than usual, because no matter how smart he is, or he thinks he is, he can't keep up unless he actually knows the subject. The teachers were also considerate enough to not ask any questions to him specifically.

Physics, Math, and Biology classes went by without many issues. The teachers asked the students some questions, they've answered correctly, and that's that.

But this one was special.

History wasn't a difficult subject. In fact, it was rather easy. Easier than the other ones they had earlier, that's for sure.

And the question itself was also very, very easy. The difference between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic eras in the stone age. It gets teached and said over and over again in middle school, and even if you don't know, you can pretty much guess. There's no reason why anyone would answer this incorrectly.

But the key is the one guy that this simple question was being asked to: Junpei Iori.

While he hasn't seem much about Junpei himself, he knows the type. The dense and dumb class clown. There is one in every school, unfortunately. And they're mostly just annoying instead of funny. And with Junpei's look of panic after being chosen, it's obvious that he fits the 'stupid' bill.

It's actually funny seeing him fumble around with words, buying time and looking around to see if someone gives him the answer. Minato has a VIP seat to watch it, too, since his chair is so close to Junpei's.

Well, he wasn't able to look at Junpei's despair for much longer, since he felt a light tap on his shoulder. His sister, sitting right next to him, gave him a look that screamed uncertainty. He looked at her book, and the question was fully written there, but there was no answer. He's guessing she doesn't know.

"Oh, it's just how the tools were made." He answered quietly, making sure only she heard that. "Pretty simple stuff-"

"It's how the what?!" She asked, speaking in a slightly higher tone, but still not enough to alert anyone. Maybe he spoke a bit too quietly?

"It's how the tools were made." He said again, louder. It wasn't loud enough for the teacher to hear, but he's sure that the people around him heard it just fine. Not that he cares-

Wait, the people around him?

He cocked his head to his right to see Junpei look at the teacher with a smirk.

"It's how the tools were made, teach!" He said, loud and proud.

He can't believe this. Looking to his left again, he sees only his sister with her tongue out. She knew all along. Of course she did. Even worse, people around him started to talk about how he gave Junpei the answer.

"I've never felt more betrayed in my entire life."

"He looked like he needed help, and I don't think I could've told him with all the distance. The professor would probably notice. Come on, you should help your friends!"

"Since when Junpei is my friend?" Minato protested. He wasn't pissed off at her, though. He can't be angry at her being clever like that. But he can sure as hell make it dramatic. He put a hand on his heart and gripped the fabric of his uniform. "I can't believe my sister would use me like that, to aid a disgusting wretch like this, no less."

"God damn it. Don't start with this again." She pouted, but didn't sound completely honest about wanting him to stop. It's been a while since they last had back and forths like this. "And don't call him that! He's just-"

"Oh, how ironic it is. In my desperate attempts to help my sibling, I ended up being manipulated by her." He put the back of his other hand on his forehead, tilting his head backwards a bit. "It seems like the purpose of my existence will only repeat itself. I'm to be used and thrown away, like a disgusting napkin."

The dismissive answer the teacher gave and Junpei's grumbling about not being praised were background noise. Usually, Hamuko would just stop the back and forth after a while, but she just kept going, and he wouldn't back down either.

All that 'writing down the important tidbits of the lecture' faded away, as they just continued quipping until the class was over. Hamuko was having quite a bit of fun, and Minato wasn't going to take that away from her, even if he got tired of acting like a generic pompous noble after a little while.

And the day continued, not as boring as it was previously. 

* * *

Well, today was very productive. Who would've known that the only thing that had to happen for him to actually pay attention to class was for him to get completely disconnected from school for a couple of days? His book was filled with notes with his perfect, too-good-for-this-world handwriting.

His legs still felt weak, but he thinks he can manage going alone to the dorm. At least, he hopes so. Hamuko said she was going to the mall with Yukari and he won't tell her to cancel her plans just to walk home with him like a child. Some time alone couldn't hurt, either. Listening to soothing ambient music and laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking might sound boring, but time flies when he does that. It's just procrastination, obviously, but it's not like he can do more than procrastinate. Not only on his current state, but at all. Working part-time sounds like a hassle, and he definitely doesn't want to spend time with other teenagers.

He finishes gathering his things, but before he can get up and go away, he notices someone approaching his table. Of course, it's him, the dumbass with the baseball cap, walking towards him apprehensively.

"Hey, uh..." Junpei fumbled with his words. Why is this guy so nervous? "Thanks for the help back there. You really saved my bacon, haha!" He laughed awkwardly and put a hand at the back of his head, averting his gaze. Well, Minato can understand the sentiment, it's probably just out of obligation. Thanking the guy who helped him is basic politeness that everyone would exert.

"Don't mention it." He looks away, and notices that the room is emptying. He can't believe this guy is gonna hold him here. He also can't confess that it was just a mistake that he made, and that his sister tricked him. He prefers to talk with this guy for hours rather than taint his pride. He figures the best course of action is to be dismissive. "I was just feeling extra kind today."

"Woah, really?" He took the bait. Yeah, sure, it's better that he thinks that it's just an one time thing. Now, it's time to cut this short and go ho- "Were you away because you hit your head or something?" He laughs at his own comment. But Minato isn't laughing. That was really rude, actually. Junpei backs up a little bit.

Now, Minato thinks for a second. Maybe two. He has his mouth open while he ponders how to respond to this commentary. Is the correct course of action to just burst out at him, like he did previously? Nah, he's not tired enough to act rashly like that. Besides, if Junpei hates him, he can't get close enough to know what kind of bullshit he's telling his sister.

Well, he could always have a little bit of fun.

"You know what, Junpei?" He said, locking eyes with the other teenager. "Yes."

"Huh?"

"I did hit my head. How'd you know?"

"Wait, really?" Junpei had stepped back, expecting the worst. But the fear of having screwed up vanished from his eyes, and now he was just confused. He thinks for a moment. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." He trails off.

"Oh, don't worry about it." He smiles at him. "I hit it pretty hard, too. And now, I just... think in a different manner, I guess?" Okay, okay. This is a bit of a stretch, and he doesn't know if this guy is dumb enough to fall for it. But he's got at least to try. "I realize now that all that mean-ess I had earlier was completely unnecessary. I just feel nicer now, in general." He stares at Junpei's eyes, fingers crossed.

"Dude..." He has his hand on his neck now, and he's looking up at the ceiling. Come on, come on. Fall for it. "I thought this kind of thing only happened in the movies! That's sick!" YES! He fell for it! "You wanna hang out? I gotta see this new personality of yours!" What an easily excitable idiot. Well, he can at least be an useful idiot. Since Hamuko will apparently listen to him, maybe Minato can pass the message of leaving town through him? It would be hard, but clearly not impossible. It's not like he's going to be an obstacle. "I'm meeting some guys at the arcade today, if you wanna come."

"Oh, I'd love to!" Minato claps his hands together. "But, unfortunately, it's not possible right now. I spent way too much time without moving my legs, and my muscles are way too weak now. I can barely walk to my dormitory as it is." He frowns. He's pretty good at lying like this, not that he likes to brag. He was in his middle school's drama club, after all. "Aw, I really wanted to go."

"Don't worry, dude. I already made plans today, but maybe some other day we can go home together. And when your legs get better, you can go and meet everyone!" Well, he can see now the influence he has on Hamuko. The overbearing optimism and excitement can spill over on others easily. God, it's so annoying.

"Well, I bet you've gotta go now, right? You don't wanna be late."

"Oh, crap, you're right." He takes out his phone and looks at the time. "Well, then, see ya!" They shake hands and Junpei is finally off.

When he finally leaves, Minato can't help but sigh in relief. The desire to leave this town only increases.

And yet...

He can't help but be jealous at the way this guy smiles, grins and laughs without a care in the world. This innocent excitement, like someone who's always happy and looking foward, no matter what.

He feels no joy like he does. And as he stares at the late afternoon sun, he can't help but wonder...

Should he try to be like this?

Being a regular guy, spending time at the arcade, making dirty jokes, hanging out with other people. Being normal.

Normal.

It's what he's going to have to be, right? He's going to graduate, go to college, get an average job in a cubicle, maybe marry someone and have kids?

It's not like he has a choice, anyway. Life is pretty streamlined.

There's no use being such a rude smartass if his life is going to be just like everyone else's.

Should he just stop being like this? _Can he_ stop being like this?

Why is he like this, in the first place?

He can't pick out the exact 'when' that he began acting in such an odd manner, but it's been some time.

Maybe it was the accident that killed his parents?

Maybe it was the fact that they had to be bounced around by relatives, because no one really wanted to take care of two annoying inseparable twins?

It's not like it matters anyway.

He gets up, gathers his belongings and starts to head out.

He doesn't have time to be sulking and wondering how he could be happier. That doesn't matter. Right now, he's gotta convince his sister to leave S.E.E.S. and maybe even this town. After that, he can think about what would make him happy.

This is all secondary to her safety. 

* * *

While he wasn't specifically called to the meeting, he felt comfortable enough inviting himself. Sure, he might have piles upon piles of homework to do, but he wants to know everything they're talking about and discussing. And it's not like he's an annoyance or anything, so they have no reason to tell him to leave. He and Mitsuru just sat down side to side at the sofa, while everyone else was standing up.

"There's someone I need to introduce." Akihiko stood in front of the entrance door. That was spoken specifically to Yukari and Hamuko, so he can assume that it's about a new member. And he can just hope it's someone normal and pleasant to be around. The two girls waited in anticipation. "Hurry up."

"Hold your horses... this is friggin' heavy!" Oh. Oh, no. He knows that voice. He'd know, because he spoke with this person extensively just a few hours ago.

Really, what are the odds?

"Hey guys, what's goin' on?" Junpei said, as he came through the door with some very hefty luggage.

"Wha... How... Why is HE here?!" Yukari could simply ask in sheer disbelief. And, honestly? Minato gets the sentiment. It's like they can't get away from him. Even more so from her perspective, since she's been studying with this guy for a long time.

"Akihiko found me curled up and crying like a little baby surrounded by coffins in a convenience store yesterday." Junpei explained, nonchalantly. "He gave me a rundown of what you guys do here and asked if I wanted to join. And, y'know, it sounded pretty awesome!"

"Junpei's gonna join? That's so cool!" Like the complete opposite of Yukari, Hamuko's eyes were sparkling. How did she become so close to this guy is a mystery only Yukari seems to know about. He needs to ask her about this as soon as possible.

Leaving them to either lament or celebrate the new recruit, Akihiko approached the couch that Minato and Mitsuru were sitting on.

"So, do you think they're ready for Tartarus?" Akihiko asked the apparent ringleader of this whole operation. Minato had to listen intently. "I was thinking that they could go as early as today. It's better if they start training as soon as possible."

"I agree, but shouldn't we let the new member get used to living in the dormitory first?" Mitsuru answered. "We could aways let him set up today and go tomorrow, there's no need to rush."

"Well, if it's just setting up his room, I can handle it." Minato suggested, as they both looked at him. "I'm technically not a member, so I don't think I'm suited to go to this 'Tartarus' place, right? So it's better if I take care of things here while you go there."

"Hm." When he was done talking, Mitsuru didn't answer immediately, but she was certainly intrigued. "I didn't expect you to volunteer to help, Minato. After all, when Yukari reported how you felt about our organization, she said you didn't seem too accepting."

"Oh, I believe that might've been a miscommunication." He doesn't know why, but it's harder to talk to her than anyone else in here. She's just always so... formal. It's difficult. "I was simply speaking irrationally at the time, out of worry for my sibling." His speech is more erratic than usual. He doesn't know why, but talking to Mitsuru makes him a bit nervous. Maybe it's her status, being the heir to the Kirijo Group and all. "The reason I offered to help is as Akihiko said: The earlier they start this endeavor, the earlier it will end, together with the hour."

"If you're that eager to help..." She didn't seem too convinced, but she has no reason to refuse. This is mutually beneficial, after all. "I don't see a reason why we _shouldn't_ go to Tartarus. Could you please inform them, Akihiko?"

"Alright! Let's start pumping some iron!" At least someone seems satisfied with this outcome. "I mean, they will. I can't go train yet." And just by reminding himself, his enthusiasm was cut in half. He started to walk towards the group of three right at the entrance, mumbling something about his injury not being that big of a deal. Minato decided to follow after him.

The scene hasn't changed much since they stopped paying attention to it. Yukari is still drowning in sorrow by being forced to deal with Junpei not only at school, but at home now too. Junpei and Hamuko, on the other hand, are both seemingly happy about him living here now, for some reason. Akihiko coughed until all eyes were on him.

"So, after discussing it with Mitsuru, we've decided that we should begin Tartarus exploration today." He began his explanation, his voice sounding excited for what's to come. "It's a place that only appears during the Dark Hour, and it's also what we think is the key to end it. Besides, it's like a Shadow nest, so it's a great place to train!" The second part of the sentence was said in a way more enthusiastic tone than the beginning.

"Isn't it extremely dangerous to invade their nest just like that?" Minato whispered to Akihiko, making sure the rest of the ensemble couldn't listen to him. They were too busy taking in the information, anyway. "Like, think about it for a second. These people aren't skilled, trained fighters like you. Normal highschool students invading a place like that is kind of, you know..." He did want them to go today, sure, but were they really ready for this? He doesn't want Hamuko getting hurt, after all.

"I think you're overestimating how dangerous Tartarus really is." He had a rebuttal. Well, that's to be expected. He knows way more about this than Minato. "The first few floors only have some very weak ones. It gets more threatening the closer you get to the top, sure, but the ones in the start are so weak that even a child could take them." He then gave his underclassman a toothy grin and a pat on the back. "Don't worry, I understand you. You're probably all worried that they're going to go fight some monsters and you can't even help, right? I feel that way too! I can't even fight right now, and it sucks. But I'm sure they're capable enough to pull it off, so you gotta believe in them a bit, alright?"

"A-Alright..." He stuttered. And it was not on purpose. God damn it. Why do these seniors make him lose his composure so much? He can handle people his age just fine, so why... Agh, whatever. He turned his attention to the new recruit. "Hey, Junpei, since you need to go soon, I'll set up your room. Do you have any preferences or-"

"Oh, really? Thanks dude! Just get some clothes out and throw'em anywhere. I don't want to give ya trouble, and I'm not one for cleanliness." He laughed at what he himself said. God, it seems to be a trend with this guy. Minato just reached for the bag. "Wait, why are you talking about like you're not going?"

"It's a... long story, but I'm not going. I'll tell you about it later." He shot him down quickly. Honestly, he already had enough Junpei for his day. He then turned his attention to the two girls who were talking amongst themselves. He has to at least speak to her before they leave. "Hey, Hamuko?"

"What is it, bro?" Now, he should probably tell her his actual worries. He has to be honest with her, if no one else. But, with Yukari as an audience, there's no way he'll fully tell what he's thinking. It's kind of embarrassing, after all.

"Just... don't get hurt, alright?" Now, in the best case scenario, his sister will notice that this was dismissive and cut short on purpose, and that he really does care. Of course, a part of him also wants to say he'll berate her if she comes back with as little as a scratch, but he knows better than that. Maybe later, when they're alone.

"Please, Minato. I'm tougher than you think!" She gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "So you shouldn't worry about me too much, alright?" Her smile was kind, and he could only reply with a weak one of his own. "And if I do get hurt, don't beat yourself up over it. It's not your fault." She then crossed her arms. "But it's not gonna happen anyway, there's no way some stupid goo-monsters are going to injury me!" She does a pretty good job of pumping herself up. It's kind of cute in it's own way.

He went up the stairs, and chose a random empty room in the second floor to set up. It didn't take long to empty about half of the bag and put it neatly in some drawers. It's actually probably more than Junpei expects, anyway. Doing things like this is also very cathartic, so he can ease of his worries a little bit.

When he was finished, he peeked into the first floor again. They were all gone.

Well then, it's time to search. After all, there's no way he'll just sit idly while his sister is risking her life.

He searches everyone's room, from Akihiko's to Mitsuru's.

They've got to keep spare Evokers somewhere, right? What would they do if one just breaks by chance? Those must take a long time to make.

Every nook and cranny was thoroughly searched. Under the bed, on the closet, the table, the floor, everywhere. Of course, always making sure to clean up the mess he makes afterwards. Unfortunately, they didn't keep it in their rooms.

There's also the possibility that they don't have spares, but that would be very unprofessional and ill-prepared. They seem to know what they're doing.

A little bit, at least.

He thinks.

In any case, whether they have them or not will be decided when he looks around the room in the fourth floor. He's never been in this room before, actually. But if they don't keep the spares on their own rooms, they have to keep them here.

When he pushed the heavy wooden door, he found an unexpected sight; Ikutsuki, sitting down, alone, writing on an notebook that was on a large control panel. Sticking on the wall to his left, a obscenely gigantic monitor with speakers on both sides. Well, they sure have some funding. Ikutsuki took a moment, but he noticed him standing there.

"Did you need something, Minato?"

"Oh, um..." He can't tell that he came to steal their probably extremely expensive stuff. Thankfully, he has an excuse prepared. "Yes, in fact. I wanted to talk to you, chairman."

"What a coincidence! I was hoping to be able to have an audience with you too." He got up from his seat and smiled, walking towards an armchair that, together with a couch and some pouf seats, completely surrounded a large table. He then gestured to the sofa beside him. "Go on, have a seat."

"Alright." Minato said, as he went and sat down on the couch. Well, it's technically true that he wants to speak to Ikutsuki anyways, so it is just a minor setback. Besides, he can just try to look for the guns another day. "What did you want to talk about?"

"The topic I want to discuss is a bit lenghty, so we can leave it for later." He gives him a smile. "You want to ask something, right? I doubt you came here just to have a friendly chat with me." His tone was actually commanding, probably made so it put a lot of pressure on Minato. And even though he realizes this, his tone makes it hard to go by unaffected. He doesn't want to fool around, it seems. Weird, he seems like the type who'd love that. "But if you want to do that, I'd be totally fine with it. I love to converse with students!"

"It's better if I cut to the chase, then. Exactly _where_ is Tartarus?" Minato asked. It's better if he goes straight to the point, anyway. He doesn't want to talk to Ikutsuki for long, lest he be contaminated by bad puns. "I know it only shows up during the Dark Hour, and that it's where all of the shadows are. It would be pretty hard to miss a place large enough to fit all of them there, even if I weren't looking for it, right? But I never saw it."

"Well, you've probably already-" He interrupts himself when he locks his eyes at the clock in the room. It's conveniently close to midnight. "Well, it's easier if you just see it for yourself. You should be able to see it from that window."

Minato goes to the window that was pointed to, trying to get a better view. He even opens it to put his head out and look around. The hour hits, and everything begins to change. And out of the corner of his eye...

"Wait, what the hell?"

A building far in the distance begins to rise quickly, seemingly out of nowhere. Made up of various materials grossly glued together in an impossible manner. Even so, it still somehow stands up, destroying everything he tought he knew about architecture. Which wasn't much, of course, but hey. The building pierces the sky, taller than anything that he ever saw.

"What is this? Is that..." He tries to make sense of it. The building's location, based on the distance to the dorm and the layout of the city... No, it can't be. Even so, he needs to ask Ikutsuki, even if it's completely wrong and he makes a fool out of himself. "Is that Gekkoukan?"

"Oh, you're pretty sharp!" Ikutsuki clapped, genuinely impressed. "Yes, you're correct. Tartarus actually rises from the school you've enrolled in, Gekkoukan High. I'm glad you've figured it out by yourself, it usually takes a long time for people to process and accept it."

"But... how?" That was all he could blurt out. Well, until he gets all the questions he wanted to ask sorted out in his head. "Was the school built for this? Did it somehow transform into Tartarus? Why and how does this happen, when-" He stops his rapid-fire questioning when he looks at Ikutsuki, who's just staring at him with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. "It... doesn't really matter, does it?"

"I'm glad you caught on." His expression changed from annoyance to a more friendly one. "I have answers to some of these questions, but it's just as supernatural to you as it is for the rest of our members." Ikutsuki said. Minato sits down on the couch again and tries to piece it together. It all makes a little more sense now. "The point is not how it came to be like this, but how we can stop it. But I can still tell you what we know. Well, maybe at a later time. I wanted to talk to you about something, first."

"Oh, alright, sure. What is it?"

"Don't you think it's a little strange that you're the only Persona user of this dorm that isn't fighthing those shadows right now?"

"Huh?"

"I know you collapsed after all the excitement of that day, but... You're not going to get strong enough to handle it if you don't push yourself, you know?" His demeanor changed. And in this moment, Minato saw something more than the group clown. Something more than just a jester that enjoyed bad puns. There is definitely something off about Ikutsuki. "I think you should at least try to tame the beast. You'd be a great help in climbing that thing." He's... being awfully sly. To a point where is nigh impossible to refuse. Maybe he is the one who convinced Hamuko to join S.E.E.S. No, not 'maybe'. He was for sure the one that did it.

"But I'm... not sure what I can do. I don't even have the weapons to try to train." Well, it's better if he plays Ikutsuki's game. Hamuko might not want him to join S.E.E.S. and risk himself, but she can't be the one risking her life in his place. Ideally, she would just take his place. He can go and fight in Tartarus and she can stay safe at the dorm. Well, the _real_ ideal situation would be to the both of them to just leave this city and never look back, but he already knows that's not likely to happen.

"I thought that would be the case, so I prepared some back-ups." He says, a lot more casually than his previous statements. It seems like he thinks that Minato is already going to do what he wants, so there's no need to be forceful. He goes to a drawer nearby and starts rummaging through it. After a while, he pulls out a silver gun and brandishes it. "I'm guessing you don't want the armband that comes with, correct?"

"No, I'm fine with just the Evoker." He chuckles at Ikutsuki's comment and takes the gun. "Well, training with the team's situation like this is going to be a bit tough. I doubt Hamuko would be happy with me trying to join in."

"If you want me to, I could always try to have a talk with her." The way he says that... Well, that would definitely save Minato the headache, but he thinks it's better if his sister is not manipulated by this guy anymore.

"Don't worry, there's no need. I'll deal with it somehow."

"Ha! If you're sure." He devolved back into the friendly goof again. "I like students who are determined just like you! I think we'll get along well."

The world changed back to normal. It seems like the Dark Hour is over. But the atmosphere in the room was still heavy. He's not sure if Ikutsuki's goals are good or bad, but he knows now that this guy is a lot smarter than he lets on, at least.

"Oh my, would you look at the time!" Minato said, and turned to the door, gun still in hand. "It's better if go and catch some Z's. I gotta go to school tomorrow, after all."

"Oh, before you go..." Minato turns around and sees Ikutsuki fumbling around with a wallet. He takes out 10,000 yen and gives it to him.

"What's this for?" He's not complaining about that. Money's always nice, especially for an unemployed teen.

"I wasn't sure about your preference in normal combat weapons, so I thought it would be best if you bought it yourself. Just tell officer Kurosawa at the police station that you're with us, and I'm sure he'll let you see the goods." Well, he figured that wasn't to spend at his leisure.

"Alright then, I'll go there tomorrow. For now, g'night."

"Good night, Minato. And don't forget what I told you."


	7. Chapter 7

**21st of April, 2009**

As bad as it sounds, Minato wasn't expecting buying weapons to be a stealth mission.

If this went as planned, he would go to the mall, meet the officer that Ikutsuki told him about, buy something with the money he's been given and just bolt out of there without any sort of issue.

Unfortunately, things never go as planned.

It started out fine. In the way, he just had to be careful and avoid Junpei and Hamuko, who were going somewhere together, but it was not really a difficult task. He didn't want to be questioned about his 'leg cramp' that he used as an excuse not to hang out with Junpei. Of course, he could just say it got better, but talking to Junpei once during lunchtime is enough Junpei for a whole week. He'd just stay behind, tailing them until they made a turn somewhere that wasn't in the way, and use that opportunity to dash to the mall.

They went down the first road that leads to the mall. No worries, they might just be going to another place nearby. He's going to get that opening soon.

And then, they went down the second road.

And on the third. And the fourth. And the fifth!

Turns out they were going to Paulownia Mall as well. That wasn't... wholly unexpected. It's a popular hangout spot, after all. Hoping that they would go anywhere else was just wishful thinking. He can still go on with it if he goes into the police station after they enter somewhere like the Arcade, and then leave before they're done.

Or rather, that would be the case, if only they weren't going to exact same place that he needed to go. God damn it.

Akihiko was standing at the front of the station, too. Of course, Ikutsuki must've told them about where they can go and buy weapons too. Why wouldn't he?

Well, whatever. He just has to wait for them to come out of there. Thankfully, the mall has this kind of alley-ish place beneath the karaoke booth that nobody goes to and that's perfect to hide in. It's also right next to the station, so he can just keep watch, waiting until they leave.

Getting ready in the alley, he notices how... weirdly empty it is. No wonder nobody comes in this place, there's really nothing here. Just some lamps, two potted plants and a glowing blue door.

Wait.

Is this...?

Yeah, this seems ominous and acessible enough to be it. Still kind of a weird location, but maybe they can't be picky. He doesn't know how their supernatural magicky bullshit works anyway.

It certainly _looks_ like the entrance to the Velvet Room, at least. The glowing behind it and the fact that the door's on a stone frame that's not actually connected anywhere are big giveaways. And he just has this feeling at the back of his head that he has to go in. He's just... entranced with the door. Kind of scary that they can just make him do whatever they want. But he doesn't really have a reason _not_ to reach for it, either. It's just that he's probably going to go through the extremely boring process of being lectured on something he has no idea exists. Again.

He just carefully steps inside of this weird portal-room-elevator hybrid and goes deeper into the room. Igor flashes him his grin as he walks towards his modest chair, something cleary very uncomfortable compared to the old man's fluffly blue couch.

"Welcome back, my dear guest." Igor said, still possessing his calm and polite demeanor. Hard to get used to the creepiness, but he can't do much about it.

"Hey there." Being casual about all of this and relaxing is a bit easier than starting to bombard him with questions. Igor's probably a good guy that just wants to help. Because if he wasn't, Minato would've been dead already. Or maybe he's just thinking that way because they want him to? They apparently can mess with his mind in any way and at any time, after all. And he can't do anything about it. The only thing he can do is hope this guy doesn't have any evil intent. "I had an out of nowhere urge to open that door, so I'm guessing you want to chat?"

"Precisely. The time has come for you to be aware of the true nature of your power." It seems like Minato's prediction was spot on and it's now learning time. How fun. "While others are normally only able to possess one Persona, you, my boy, are able to possess many, and summon them as needed."

"..."

"...?" Minato waited for him to continue, but after a concise explanation, Igor fell silent and went back to staring at him. "Umm... Is that it? No beating around the bush, no weird metaphors, no long speech, nothing?"

"But of course. You seemed to rather dislike my initial form of speech, so I've decided to change it more to your liking. I could always go back if you so desire."

"No, no, it's fine." He sighs. "But it's actually a relief to know that I can have more than one. I can't really use my current one well, you see..."

"..." He doesn't say a word and just keeps on smiling. God, quiet Igor might be even creepier.

"But where would I even find another Persona for me to use? Don't they come from your personality? Would I have to..." He trails off. It sounds pretty stupid asking if becoming bipolar would do it, now that he thinks about it.

"I'm so very glad you asked, my dearest guest." His eyes twitched as his grin intensified. "This is what my purpose is as your guide. If you will it, I'll create new Personas to assist you in your journey."

"Oh, really?" Ah, this became very interesting. If he can't really use his own persona, he can just use another one, right? "Can you make a new one for me that's like, weaker? So I can slowly train my way up until I can use my original one?"

"It's impossible to make a Persona out of thin air." Of course this wouldn't be so easy. It never is. "As you venture into Tartarus, you might eventually face a Persona you're able to capture and utilize. I'm only responsible for fusing Personas together to make stronger ones."

"So I do have to go there after all." A groan of defeat and frustration escapes his mouth.

God, why does everything have to be so complicated? Can't things just be simple once in a while?

All this supernatural, nonsense bullshit getting in the way of the average life that he was supposed to live. What is he supposed to do? Die trying to save this city of some useless goo-monsters? He never felt so railroaded to failure in his entire life. Will he really be forced to just suck it up-

"Minato."

"Hm?" He turned to Igor, who was just staring at him. Looking at Elizabeth, she was just doing the same. "Did any of you say something?"

"Minato?"

None of them opened their mouths, but that voice was still booming in his head. Was this from the outside? How could them see him if he entered the door?

"Minato!"

Well, the person that was calling him was certainly starting to sound worried. His sister somehow found him, perhaps? That would take a little explaining, but he doesn't want to worry her anymore.

He gets up from the chair and dashes to the door at his quickest. He also doesn't want to cause a commotion if someone were to think he's passed out or something like that. He has no idea in what state his body is, too.

His vision blurs and the mechanical elevator sounds dissipate. What he sees turn to black, and the begins to take color. The sounds around him become a bit clearer and-

"Minato!"

"Augh!"

He jumps back after someone screams right next to his face and falls on his butt. He looks up and sees...

"Akihiko?" He says, getting up and rubbing his backside. "What are you... um..." His first instinct told him to ask what he was doing there, but he already knew, so the question just dissolved in an incoherent mumbling.

"I came here to ask you this exact same thing. I kind of noticed you following Hamuko and Junpei and watching us entering the police station, and, you know, thought something might be wrong." He sighed. "But when I saw you, you were facing the wall with this dazed look on your face and wouldn't look at me. What happened? Are you feeling alright?"

"Oh, um, haha..." Well, at times like this, it's time to use the old faithful excuse. It has never failed him before, at least. "I was kinda worried about Hamuko going to Tartarus yesterday, so I really couldn't sleep for the majority of the night. I get really out of it when I'm sleepy, I'm sorry for worrying you."

"Yeah, Yukari told me about that." Yeah, she looked like the gossip girl type. No surprises there. At least she did some good this on this one, making Minato's excuse a bit more believable and all. "But still, why were you tailing them? You could just talk to them if you wanted to ask something, right?"

"I told Junpei yesterday that my legs were still hurting." He explained. It's part of the reason, yeah, but being vague about his real motives won't hurt. "They got better today, but I wanted to go alone to the mall, and Junpei would pester me to go to the Arcade if I told him I was coming here, so I was making sure that I wouldn't have to deal with that."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Junpei can be a handful." He nodded, but he doesn't look fully convinced. "But what did you want to do in the mall all alone, anyway? There's not much to do here."

"Oh, that..." Oh, god, this is going to be a doozy. Nobody should know that he is buying those weapons on his own. After all, to the rest of S.E.E.S., he's supposed to be just dead weight. Making up believable excuses in this situation is hard too, because Akihiko is way smarter than the people he usually has to deal with. It has to be something Akihiko cares enough about to believe would excuse that kind of weird behaviour. "Well, you see..." But he doesn't know much about Akihiko. The only thing he knows is that he enjoys training and is the captain of the boxing team and-

Oh!

That might work.

"I actually overheard they were meeting up with you on the mall." Yeah, that's ought to be good enough. "And I wanted to talk to you anyways, so I decided to go here too. The whole tailing part was more to see where you were, if anything. Since I don't have your number and all." Well, maybe. He's not too sure.

"Oh, that explains it. I thought stalking them was a bit weird. Again, you'd have no reason to anyway." He smiles a bit. Nice damage control, Minato. "But still, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Please, let this excuse work.

"Well, with sports clubs recruitment still going on, I wanted to make sure before actually applying to join any." He smiles harmlessly at Akihiko. "So, I was wondering... are there any spots open on the boxing team?"

Akihiko seemed to be caught off guard, and then his surprised turned to thinking. Yeah, it's not really believable that someone that showed pretty much no interest in sports would suddenly want to join the boxing team. And he's pretty sure it's full, since his teacher told him that only the track, swimming and kendo clubs were options for him to join. So this might've been a good idea, and he might be able to slip away without doing anything, only maybe acting down at the moment.

"I mean, I understand if you wouldn't want me. I'm too skinny and a complete beginner." Minato began to press, easing any worries that Akihiko could have about disappointing him. That way he shouldn't be afraid of saying that there's no spots for him on the team. "I was just kinda interested, but I don't want to get in the way-"

"Don't worry about it. I'll make sure you get in."

"Huh?"

"While we're full, I'm sure I can make a compromise with the chairman for you to join." Oh no. What did he think about? Did he see through his lie and will force him to go through, or is he just pumped up about someone joining the boxing team? "It's not always we get someone actually eager to join. I can't miss this opportunity." Well, at least the latter seems more likely. Akihiko may be smart, but Minato can be pretty persuasive.

At least, that's what he likes to think.

"You don't need to go that far! I was, just... interested, but I don't want to be a burden or anything..." Well, this is it. The desperate last try. He can only hope this can be enough. If he presses beyond this, Akihiko will get suspicious of his true intentions, if he isn't already.

"Haha, you don't need to be modest." Akihiko pats him on the back. "I've wanted a new recruit to join for a while, and since we live in the same dorm, I can make sure you're training right." He flashed a grin towards Minato. Well, he seems satisfied. But joining the boxing team right now is so complicated. All the members there know each other and are pretty good at boxing. It's impossible that they would accept a wimp like Minato there.

He doesn't have a choice, though.

"If you're sure about it..." Minato smiles back at him. If there's no escaping this, he might as well be friendly with this guy. "Just don't overdo it. I don't want you to get into an argument with the chairman over something like this." This is his last chance. He'll just have to trust Ikutsuki to deny it. Trusting that guy, though...

"Well then, now that you're done here, are you going back to the dorm? I can tag along, if you want me to." Akihiko said. It'd be weird to say 'no' outright, but there's a limit to how long Minato can keep up the act.

"Actually, since I'm here anyway, I wanted to check that coffee shop. Junpei told me it's pretty good." Well, among all the places in the mall, the coffee shop is the more believable option in someone going by themselves. There's the Arcade, but Hamuko and Junpei will probably go there when they finish with the police station, so it's a bit dangerous. "Do you want to come with?" He does still have to be polite, though.

"I keep forgetting you're new to the city. Nobody showed you around yet, right?" Oh. He knows where this is going. "Sure, we can go there, but it's nothing impressive. You've got to try this beef bowl place, though. If you want someone to show you around, just ask me-"

And then, like an angel descending from the sky, Akihiko's cellphone rang. He seemed a bit annoyed as he was in the middle of talking, but answered it nonetheless.

"What is it, Mitsuru?" He sighed as soon as he heard who had called him.

"What? Does it need to be _right now_?" Akihiko said, in annoyance. "Ugh, fine." A very short call, but Akihiko seemed displeased with it.

"Something wrong?" Minato asked right away, even if it's not that hard to figure out what she said.

"Mitsuru said she wanted to talk to me at the dorm. Important S.E.E.S. stuff."

"Oh, that's a bummer." He looked down to his feet, trying to convey that he really wanted to hang out. Then, he looked up and smiled. "But hey, there's always next time, right? I'm down for you showing me around another day."

"Yeah, you're right." Akihiko said and paused for a moment. "Well, I've got to go now. Can't leave her waiting for too long. Akihiko started to leave the alley, but turned back to Minato. "Oh, before I forget it, we've got to discuss your training regimen, so... Can you come to my room tonight?"

"Oh, um... Sure?" He raised an eyebrow. Inviting someone to your room at night is a bit... weird. It seems like Akihiko is unaware of how inappropriate that sounds. Well, here's hoping that he doesn't say that to any girls.

"Neat! We can even get some muscle training going. You need to work on your biceps." He scratched his chin and nodded. "Hm, a diet is also in order. It's hard being consistent with it being unable to cook, but it pays off well. Oh, and also-"

"Isn't Mitsuru waiting for you? You're going to be late, y'know." Minato said, fed up with all this. He then noticed how harsh he sounded, and quickly tried to take care of it. "We can discuss this tonight, right? No point in leaving a lady waiting."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. She can be terribly impatient sometimes." He sighed and turned to go back. "Well then, see you later!"

"See ya."

And with that, Akihiko walked off. As soon as he left, Minato couldn't help but sigh in relief.

The people here are a bit... overbearing.

But isn't it how he has something to be so fired up about?

Training or something else, having passion like this is...

Ugh, stop.

He's on a time limit here. If Hamuko and Junpei see him here, he'll have to explain himself even more, and that's enough making stuff up for one day. He has his limits, after all.

And speak of the devil. Or the devils? Whatever. They came out from the police station, and just like he predicted, they went straight to the Arcade.

Now, he doesn't know about Junpei, but Hamuko can pretty much go on for as long as she wants to. He should have until they get bored, which usually takes a long time.

And he's finally able to enter the police station.

As soon as he does, he sees a gruff-looking cop behind the counter.

The officer looks up to Minato, but only raises his eyebrows, not really saying a thing.

"Um... excuse me..." God, this guy's stare feels like it's piercing through Minato's soul. Even Minato's manner of speech took a more careful approach. "Could you be Officer Kurosawa?"

"That's the name. Do you need something?" He looks pissed, but his voice sounds like he's dealing with business as usual. Maybe a scowl is his neutral face, who knows. "If you need to report something, I'll have to take you to the back. I'm not the one that deals with that kind of thing."

"No, no, that's not it." Minato regained his composure. He just looks scary, but seems alright. "I'm a bit late, but I'm with S.E.E.S. and I came to, y'know, see the merchandise."

"Not sure I follow what you mean, kid." Kurosawa actually seemed surprised for a second, but his voice sounded dismissive. Yeah, it wasn't very believable. He probably thinks that Minato was just eavesdropping before, and has actually no idea what they even do.

"Well, I..." Minato scratches the back of his head. Oh boy, this is going to be hard. "I'm kind of a special case, so Ikutsuki sent me here without saying anything about it to Akihiko." As soon as Ikutsuki was mentioned, Kurosawa seemed again, surprised. That's it, maybe if he uses these keywords... "I don't bring it to school, but if you want me to, I can go to the dorm to bring my armband and my Evoker to prove it." Alright, this is a stretch, but he's trying to name things that no normal person should know about. Hell, he doesn't even have an armband, but maybe him expressing that he knows it comes together with the Evoker will make the officer believe him. "He told me to get ready for Tartarus and get myself a weapon, but-"

"Alright, alright. That's enough. I get you." He sighed and pulled something from under the counter. "Keep it down, you never know who might be hearing us." Completely understandable that he'd want to be as careful as possible, as his job is at risk if anyone finds out about this whole operation. "Here's a bit of a catalogue I whipped up, should have all items I can get made."

He takes the list from Kurosawa, and it's just a cut-out page from a notebook, with some names and prices written in pencil. It's looks like something that a child would do. Actually reading it, it's just like he said: Not a lot of options overall, but it's pretty diverse. Swords, bows, daggers, spears, clubs, axes, even some knuckles and fencing equipment.

"No actual guns, though..." Minato said, his voice dragging from clear disappointment.

"Yeah, no way I'm selling guns to a bunch of teenagers. They're too easy to steal and too easy to do something bad with. Not taking risks."

Yeah, he can understand that policy. Just imagine how tragic it would be if a dumbass like Junpei mistook an actual pistol for his evoker and shooting himself. Or if he drops it on the street during a battle and someone else picks it up.

But still, something like a firearm would be of great use just based on the sheer, well, firepower it has. Not to mention the extra safety. It's too dangerous to get up close with one of these creatures to use something like an sword. And it must be pretty hard to hit them with a bow, too. Even so, he'll probably just have to settle for one of those weapons for now.

How would he even get a gun around here?

"Not quick to decide, eh?" Officer Kurosawa said, and Minato just noticed that he was just staring at the catalogue while thinking.

"Kind of hard to choose. I have no combat experience at all." He looks at the list. Some of these look like would take a major effort in using. Like, imagine actually using an axe. A heavy one, at that. "Could you give me some pointers?"

"Well, according to the information I've got, the enemies you're up against are not really that smart, so it shouldn't take much expertise to fight them." Kurosawa said while taking the catalogue back. "A dagger is basically a glorified kitchen knife, and I'm sure you can use one of those." He stops for a bit to read it. "If that's too close for comfort, you can try picking up a sword. Longswords are more for people who want to cause a lot of damage without caring for speed, and shortswords don't pack as much punch, but they're more flexible in usage."

He's... surprisingly into talking about these. There's a big disconnect between how scary he looked at first and how excited he is now talking about outdated weaponry, but he looks like he's having fun.

It would...

It would be nice to actually have something like this.

An actual interest.

Be it sports, video games, movies, studying... Anything, really.

Maybe if-

Enough. Pay attention. He's still talking.

"You could also use a spear, they're probably the safest weapon that you can use without a lot of practice, but if something gets up close, you have little chance of doing something." He continued. "Anything else would be too hard to pick up, but you can choose regardless. It's your business, after all." He then puts the catalogue back down. "But if you want my recommendation, I'd go for a one-handed sword for balance. It's also pretty easy to pick up, and it's about both your strength and dexterity without relying too much on one or the other. There's a reason why they're so popular."

"Oh, alright." Minato said. He just wanted the easier choice, so he's pretty indifferent to that. Swords are boring, but who cares. He peeks at the list again. "But I still have to choose between three of them, huh..."

"Well, one-handed swords have lots of styles." He starts explaining again. "I have a basic, european-style medieval one-handed sword. This one can do pretty much anything, and can do it consistently, but they take a little bit of getting used to. I also have a fencing rapier, which is harder to use, but it can pierce as well as slash, which makes it useful in more situations. And finally, I have a cutlass. These are the easiest to use, and they are their greatest at close-combat. They are versatile too, and they are the best at cutting things like ropes and whatnot. That's the reason they were used by pirates." He looks at Minato with a bit of a grin. He probably doesn't have the chance to talk about his hobby that much. "So, which one will you be taking?"

"Uh..." Minato's answer to that flurry of information was a bit of a blank of uncertain stare. "I think I'll take..." Well, he doesn't have much time. The more time he takes to actually do something, it will be more time that his sister stays in danger. But he doesn't really have a plan.

But even if he had one, what can he realistically do? End the Dark Hour by himself? These people been trying for who knows how long with Mitsuru and Akihiko, probably better fighters than him, on duty, what can he do alone?

But he's a very special case, as Igor said. If he trains a lot, maybe he can...

But he still has to train, so it'll take a while. As he is right now, he can't do anything. So...

"The rapier. I'll take a rapier." He decides to take his time. It's better to be fully prepared and actually succeed at what he's trying to do, instead of just rushing in Tartarus and ending up dead. Hamuko's smart, she can avoid danger for now. Here's hoping that Junpei stays on the frontline and takes all the blows for her.

"A classy and respectable choice." Kurosawa nodded in approval. "That will be 4,500 yen. As I said, they're pretty expensive to make. I'm actually selling them at a loss."

"Alright, just... How am I supposed to take a sword back to the dorm?"

"Well, someone comes to pick them up at night or they ask me to deliver it, usually they order a lot of them at once. I don't actually have anything on stock, since that would be hard to hide. It'll take some days to get it made."

"Oh, do I need to... check up with you in a few days?"

"I usually message Ikutsuki or Akihiko to let them know it's done. Since you have that whole weird secret thing going on, I'll make sure to tell Ikutsuki this time." He then sighs. "I usually text Akihiko, though. He doesn't bombard my phone with bad puns after I talk to him."

"Haha, yeah, I get you." He then takes out a few bills from his pocket and gives them to Kurosawa. "Well, see ya then. I've got to get going."

"Goodbye. Be sure to stop by when it's done, kiddo."

"Will do."

Leaving the police station, he slouches for a bit and gives a long, dragged out sigh.

Phew.

That was... a lot of not very useful information.

He needs to ask less about stuff.

He takes his phone and flips it open- he still has some time until the evening. With the way Akihiko was excited, he's probably already ready and waiting, but...

It's a bit of a tough situation.

On one hand, he has to go back to the dorm as fast as possible. He really doesn't want to get caught by Junpei and have to explain himself and blah blah blah.

On the other... He wants to stall. As much as possible. He doesn't want to train. It's going to get sweaty and his muscles are going to hurt and, and...

Ugh, he doesn't really have much of a choice.

Well, here's hoping that this training actually helps his combat ability and doesn't just make him want to stay in his bed for a whole month.

All he can do at this point is hope.

* * *

After stalling a little bit at the mall, going back to the Velvet Room just to chat, actually trying that coffee shop, even spending some time at the pharmacy, he arrived at the dorm.

This is it. He has to do it.

Pushing through the door, he finds the dorm pretty deserted. Not that he's used to seeing anyone at the lounge, as he always comes back as early as possible, while everyone else is busy with club business or something like that.

The dorm is large, but very few people actually live there. Which is a relief, because he doesn't know how he would manage if this was bustling at all times.

He should stop stalling. The sooner it starts, the sooner it ends, right?

Going up the stairs, the anxiety starts to bubble inside him. It's going to hurt, a lot.

In the front of Akihiko's door, he actually thinks about how much he doesn't want to do this.

What even got him in this situation?

Well, the short answer is himself, but he'd never admit that.

He can just say that it's Ikutsuki's fault for scouting him for having the potential and everything that happened after was the domino effect.

God, how awful-

Suddenly, the door in front of him flies open.

"Oh, hey, you're already here?" Akihiko said. He was wearing some brand-name training shoes, expensive-looking shorts and... that was it. He was sweaty and shirtless, with a towel around his neck. This is a bit too much. "I was warming up a little, you can come in. I'll just go refill my water bottle and we can start." He moved past Minato and hurried downstairs.

"Alright, I guess?" He sighs and comes in. It'd be smart to change out of his school uniform to train, but hey, he has a few more of them. He can get one sweaty without issue. He also doesn't have any training clothes on the ready.

Akihiko's room is surprisingly well kept. No clothes laying about on the floor, which is what he expected. There are a lot of trophies and even books arranged neatly on the shelf. Apparently there are senior bonuses, too. Of things Minato doesn't have, there's an armchair, some weights, a small round punching bag, a treadmill-

Wait, he has a treadmill in his room?

That's...

Pretty cool, actually.

"I'm back!" Akihiko said, entering the room and closing the door behin him. He takes the towel and wipes sweat off his forehead. "Be sure to stretch beforehand, otherwise your muscles will really hurt."

"Hey, do you..." Minato can't get past the shirtless situation. Being invited to someone's room at night was weird enough, but this is something else. "Do you always train like this?"

"Yeah, It's pretty annoying when the shirt keeps sticking to your skin." Akihiko doesn't seem bothered at all. "I'd recommend taking yours off too-"

"I think I'll pass on that." Minato replied instantly.

"Alright, you do you." Akihiko said, nonchalantly. This is nothing to him. Maybe this is a 'gym bro' thing?

Oh god, what if the boxing team turns him into this?

"Since you're new and all, it's better to wait on the weights for a bit." Akihiko entered coach-mode. "It's better if you build up a muscle base before that, and taking you're a beginner in mind, I figured out it's better to start light. Push-ups, sit-ups and squats do a good job of building your core. You know how to do those, right?"

"Yeah, I know that much." Now, the problem is what Akihiko defines as 'light'. Minato begins stretching, a bit reluctant. "So, how do I... get started?"

"You've got to get your body moving." Akihiko grabbed something close to his bed on the floor. "Go on the treadmill for a bit. Start slow, and adjust the speed until you're jogging. I'll be on the jump rope for a bit."

"Alright, then." Minato turns on the treadmill on the slowest setting, and it's painstakingly slow. What would you even use this for? This is slower than walking normally. He raises the speed twice and he still has no issues keeping up. "I thought moving up would be harder."

"It sounds like a pain, but once you get into it, it's pretty alright." Akihiko mentioned while jumping. He's pretty fast at it, too. "I was going to include pull-ups on this, too, but the bar I used actually broke. I've got to get it fixed."

"Oh, thank god. I don't think I would manage that." He said, upping the velocity again. He's already jogging at this point, and he has no problems. Maybe this really will be easy.

"Don't worry. I think even a child could do these if it followed my lead." Akihiko stops jumping. "That's enough of that. We should start."

"Well, that's reassuring. Anyway..." He turns off the treadmill and comes out. "I'm as ready as I can be. How many do I need to do again?"

"Give me a hundered of each, for starters."

"A hundred?!" Minato's tone of voice actually went a few pitches higher, in utter disbelief. To someone that never did anything like this, a hundred sounds like a lot. "I just got out of the hospital, do you want to send me back there?"

"Oh, please. I usually do five hundred each just for warm-ups. You can take it."

"Come on, that's obviously not fair." Minato pleaded. "You've been training for a long time and I'm basically made out of sticks."

Akihiko sighs and begins scratching his chin.

"How about this: I'll give as much rest time as you need. You want to rest twenty minutes after 10 reps? Feel free to." Akihiko said, starting to stretch his arms. "And to prove to you that it's completely achievable, I'll do my usual five hundred while you do your one hundred, and I'll make sure we finish at the same time. That good enough for ya?"

"Yeaaaaah, sure. Whatever." Minato can't really refuse. After all, he got himself into this mess. He just has to be satisfied that he's able to do it at his on pace.

After he's finished with his stretching, he decides to start with push ups. Akihiko was already in position, waiting for Minato to start.

Well, this is it. The pain, the suffering.

It will all start.

He lifts himself up, holds, and lowers. Lift, hold, lower. Lift, hold, lower.

Hey!

It's not too bad.

He never did it before, but... this is easy.

Maybe he has a knack for this kind of thing?

"Oh, you're doing better than I expected, haha." Akihiko said, sounding a bit nervous. He started pretty fast, but as soon as he saw that Minato was doing well, he began doing it even faster. This probably will more harm his muscles than anything.

"Yeah, it's better than I expected, too." He continued at a good pace, but Akihiko was clearly pushing himself. It wasn't about the amount, but how fast he was forcing himself to do them. "Hey, you don't actually need to do five hundred while I do just one. I don't think that'd be even possible."

"I'm not one to step down, you know. If I told you I'd do it, then I'll do it. No questions asked."

"Well, alright." Minato had no problems doing it, but he slowed down a bit just so Akihiko doesn't destroy himself in the process. It's actually admirable that he would stick it out until the very end, but it was also really dumb and stubborn at the same time.

Then, came the sit-ups. Also not too bad, but Minato was getting tired. He actually took a break to drink some water and clean up the sweat. Now he understands why Akihiko trains shirtless, the sweat sticking on him is pretty gross.

But he's not taking it off. No, no, no, sir. He's not at that level yet.

Akihiko, on the other hand, didn't allow himself to take a break. He has to do five sit-ups for every one that Minato does, and that piles up fast. He's a few behind, but it's surprising that he can actually keep up like that. He seems very tired, though, and they're only halfway through.

The squats were harder to manage. The tiredness was actually natural and normal, not the 'Ow, everything hurts' that he expected to go through, but it was still taking a toll on him. He took several breaks, but Akihiko was still at it. He didn't even take some time to drink water, but he actually jumped ahead of Minato on the '5 to 1' count because of it.

Nearing the end, they were at their limit. Minato might have some unexpected stamina, but he still was a complete beginner at actually moving his body. And even though Akihiko did these for warming up, it wasn't this fast. He seemed close to overheating.

"Ninety nine..."

"Four hundred and ninety nine..."

"A hundred!"

"Five hundred!"

The both of them finished at the same time, collapsing on the mat.

"Haha, see? Told ya... I'd do it..." Akihiko said, completely exhausted. Even a boxing champ has his limits, apparently. "I guess... That means I win, right?"

"Sure... whatever..." Minato responded, equally out of breath. "But really... I think that overworking yourself like that will bring more bad than good for your body."

...

No response.

He looks to the side, and sees Akihiko with his eyes closed. He's either sleeping or he collapsed. Or a little bit of both.

"Haha... What an idiot..." Minato said, but there wasn't a single trace of bitterness in his voice.

As tired as he is, he...

He had fun.

Akihiko is a weird case. He seems pretty smart and acts like it, most of the time. But he's also extremely stubborn and focused on winning.

Why would that be?

Does he have a reason to be all about winning, or is he just an idiot that gets good grades?

Minato can't deny his curiosity. Maybe if he got to know Akihiko better...

_Thou art I, and I am thou._

What? Where did that came from?

_Thou hast established a new bond._

That voice... Elizabeth?

_Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Emperor Arcana..._

So besides controlling his will, they also can talk to him telepathically? That's unfair.

But... is that what they meant when they talked about those Social... whatever they're called?

Hah, he didn't even try to do that.

It should be fine as long as he gets stronger, right?

Nevertheless, he should get up and go back to his room and-

Oh.

He can't move.

Well... He's sure the door isn't locked. If anyone walks into this scene, it'd be terribly awkward to explain.

Whatever, he can just leave that to Akihiko if someone asks.

He slowly closes his eyes, and relaxes his exhausted muscles.

Ugh, this mat is not the most comfortable thing to lay on.

Even so, he slowly drifts into sleep...


End file.
